Expressions of interest for Mexico City airport

The bidding process for the proposed new International Airport in Mexico City has opened. The Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) has invited expressions of interest in the first stage of construction, which involves clearance and earthworks over the 44.3 km2site.

According to the SCT, there will be 21 major contract packages on the US$ 9 billion project, which was unveiled by Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto in September last year. It is designed to replace the existing airport, and is on a site some 10 km north in the Zona Federal del Lago de Texcoco.

It will comprise a single 560,000 m2 terminal and six runways – two will be 4.5 km long , with the other four 4 km long. There is an ambition to secure a high Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) rating for the terminal, which will have a capacity of 120 million passengers per year.

Mexico City’s existing international airport was first opened in 1958, in what has since become a densely populated part of the city. Despite a series of expansions, including the opening of a second terminal in 2007, there are only two runways and capacity is limited to 40 million passengers per year.

Target completion for the new airport is October 2020.