Mexico City airport traffic demands extra fuel: Pilots

Airlines should consider having planes flying into Mexico City's main international airport carry extra fuel as diversions and delays have increased since a second airport opened nearby, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (Ifalpa) said.

"It is recommended that crews consider carrying additional fuel to allow for the prolonged holding and possible diversions and also consider that [Mexico City airport] is a high altitude airport," the association said on 4 May.

The association reported several incidents of aircraft arriving at Mexico City's Benito Juarez airport with low fuel because of these delays.

Mexico on 21 March inaugurated the former Santa Lucia military base about 28 miles away from the existing airport as a mixed civilian and military facility. Only a few flights — sometimes one daily — are being flown from the new facility, known as the Felipe Angeles international airport, but it has still led to traffic issues.

Air traffic controllers "apparently received little training and support as to how to operate this new configuration in the airspace," Ifalpa said.

There has only been one formal report of an incident involving air traffic control directing an airplane to repeat an approach, Mexico City communications and transport ministry (SCT) said today in response to Ifalpa's safety bulletin.

But the government also said it will reduce flights from the main Mexico City airport to 50 from 61 and move those operations to the Felipe Angeles airport, which would create a more complicated air traffic pattern and override other market considerations.

The main Mexico City international airport has been considered over capacity since 2014. Mexico's government in 2012 began planning for a new facility that would have been among the largest airports in the world. But president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador cancelled those plans when he took office and instead remodeled the Santa Lucia military airbase.

Mexico consumed 87,000 b/d of jet fuel in the week ended 11 March, up by 70pc from a year earlier, according to the latest figure from the energy ministry's weekly dashboard.

Mexico's total jet fuel imports, mainly by state-owned Pemex, almost doubled to 49,000 b/d in the first quarter of this year, up from 25,000 b/d in the first same quarter of 2021.

By Sergio Meana