The government made every effort to get all the attention it could, even releasing a documentary about the project that showed an army general talking with a statue.
The army built the terminal on an army base and named it after a general in the army.
The new terminal can only handle 16 flights per day because it is far from the city. Also, the rail and expressway connections are still incomplete. The new terminal saw only 2,000 passengers use it Monday, far less than the 2.4 million that the government hopes to attract by year’s end.
The airport will only be used by one “international” flight, which is a flight to Caracas (Venezuela) operated by a Venezuelan airline that is subject to U.S. sanctions.
Lopez Obrador acknowledged that the new terminal is more popular with cargo flights than passengers.
The president stated that it was just a matter of airlines increasing their flights. “In the area of cargo traffice, there has been more progress. The (old) Mexico City Airport is also saturated in cargo.”
The contrasts and contradictions that Lopez Obrador’s administration has created the new Felipe Angeles Mexico City Airport.
There is government austerity. His main campaign promise, which he made in his terminal is quite bare-bones, is fully displayed. Also, his usual outsized reliance upon the Mexican army.
An animated documentary about the construction of the terminal shows an army general saluting and speaking to a large statue of Gen. Felipe Angeles. Felipe Angeles fought alongside Pancho Villa during Mexico’s 1910-1917 Revolution. He was later executed.
There are also many widely ridiculed claims by government about the time it will take passengers for the terminal to open. It is located at 27 miles (43 km) from the city centre. The president has repeatedly complained that there is a conspiracy to discredit his new airport.
The president views the new airport symbolically as his fight against conservativism, privilege and ostentation which he loathes.
Lopez Obrador was able to target the expensive and architecturally bold project his predecessor started to build an enormous new airport in a swamp at the city’s eastern border. This would be much closer to the center of the city.
Lopez Obrador decided to cancel the plan and build the airport on firmer ground to the north. The project is expected to cost $4 billion. Lopez Obrador claims that this represents a cost saving compared to the swampy site which would have required billions of dollars in maintenance.
Mexico City’s current airport will be used as a hub. The two saturated terminals were to close under the previous plan.
He is racing to complete it before his term ends in 2024. It is one of four keystone project he is racing for completion — an airport, an oil refinery and a tourist train in Yucatan Peninsula — reflecting his vision that he does not want a six-year term as a president. Mexico does not allow reelection.
He considers himself to be leading an historic and irreversible transformation of Mexico. To protect that legacy, he has taken to building projects and the army. After the completion of some projects, the army will be able to own and operate them.
The rush to finish the projects has been criticized. The government announced that the new airport will be used by all carriers who wish to fly to Mexico City from the United States.
His Maya Train tourist project ran into difficulties. Engineers realized they couldn’t build an elevated stretch of the Caribbean coast as it would close down the only highway in the region. So they just started running the line through low jungle.
The feasibility plan and environmental impact statement were never comprehensively prepared for this project. It is not known how many tourists it will be used by.
To boost the terminal’s popularity, the government amended the rules that normally required passengers to arrive two hours prior to a domestic flight and three hours prior to an international flight. They will not be required to arrive at the Felipe Angeles terminal until one or two hours prior to those flights.