He Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) accumulate 789 million pesos in profits for the third quarter, according to an analysis carried out by El Financiero based on the activity statements of the company commanded by the army.
The financial reports for the third quarter show that ‘Felipe Ángeles’ recorded income, without counting the subsidies it receives, for one thousand 970 million pesos.
95 percent of the resources were obtained from the collection of airport services, such as Airport Use Fee (TUA)among other items linked to commercial and airport operations; while the rest was linked to investments in financial markets that have generated income for 109 million pesos.
The AIFA, which began operating in the first quarter of 2022, broke even and generated profits at the beginning of this year and has had three quarters with profits.
In it July-September periodthe airport’s profits exceeded 298 million pesos, the second best financial performance since the air port began operations.
The airport benefited from a greater flow of passengers: during the three first three quarters of this yearthe terminal handled 4.4 million passengers, most of them on domestic flights.
“The results in terms of income are positive, both from passengers, who continue to be national, and from cargo, which has generated a good amount of income. The combination of both factors has helped AIFA do better than some estimates,” said Carlos Torres, independent specialist in the sector.
The profit from the airport operation will go to the coffers of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena)which will use the resources to pay the military personnel pensions.
Subsidy for 3,500 million pesos
Despite the accumulated profits, the AIFA continues to receive subsidies through the transfers that the Treasury makes as part of the labeled budget resources; In accumulated figures, since the beginning of operations, the airport has received 3 thousand 519 million pesos for its operation.
This year alone, the airport’s financial statements show that the ‘Felipe Ángeles’ captured one thousand 53 million pesos in federal subsidies. It is expected that towards the end of the year, transfers will accumulate 1,500 million pesos, the highest amount received by the air port.
Although the director of AIFA himself, Isidoro Pastorhas indicated that he will look for a mechanism to return received resourcesthe resources continue to appear in its cash and financial results as of September 30.
Torres pointed out that, although the AIFA has benefited from increased passenger numbersand which will probably close the year with at least 5 million travelers, must still build your own market and expand the offer in the Valley of Mexico.
“To a large extent, the increase in income has been due to the latest decision to cut capacity at the AICM; these factors have caused the airport in Saint Lucia to have faster growth,” added the specialist.
The government of President Claudia Sheinbaum has indicated that they will begin to carry out studies to expand it and build the second phase of it.
Train and promotion, pending
The transfer of passengers to and from the AIFA continues to be a challenge, since land communication routes they have not managed to reduce the transfer from various points in CDMX and the State of Mexico.
For now, the government continues working on the completion of the train that will connect the AIFA with the Suburban train that covers the Buenavista-Cuautitlán route.
According to the federation’s forecasts, the train should be completed in this last quarter, and at the same time, some operational tests have been carried out on its connection from Lechería.
Once mass passenger transportation is established, it will be necessary to expand the promotion of AIFA as a terminal with its own offer and benefits, Torres noted.
