When will the AIFA-Mexico City rail link be ready?

Construction works continue on the rail line connecting Felipe Ángeles international airport (AIFA) to Mexico City more than two years after the airport was inaugurated.

Rights of way issues and lack of funding have delayed the suburban train connection between the airport and Buenavista station in the center of the capital, forcing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's (AMLO) to abandon his promise at the end of last year that the works would be completed by June 6. In April he pushed back the estimated inauguration date to August.

However, on May 22, AMLO said that that the link will only be ready before his presidential term comes to an end on October 1, but he did not mention a specific date. 

Despite the delays, works are progressing, according to videos published by Infobae, which show trains being tested on the new lines in Zumpango municipality, Mexico state, close to AIFA. 

The rail line that will reach AIFA currently operates with trains on a first section with five stations, stretching from Buenavista station in the city to Cuautitlán in Mexico state. 

When completed, the 42km line will take 40 minutes to transport passengers between Buenavista and the airport. 

According to aeronautical consultant Fernando Gómez Suárez, AIFA should have handled at least 20mn passengers by now, but it has only served 5mn since it was opened in March 2022, he was reported as saying by Forbes. "That is the market that this new airport should have captured from the AICM [Mexico City international airport], he added.  

Suárez added that neither of the two main presidential candidates for the upcoming June 2 election, Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez, have announced any plausible plans to increase the amount of traffic handled by AIFA.

“None of the candidates have suggested anything sensible. On the one hand they propose to keep it and on the other to cancel it. It's something that should be studied between government authorities and private sector,” Gómez said, underscoring that although AIFA will continue growing, it will not be as rapid as is hoped or required.