Mexico City track damaged by heavy rain

Over the weekend, Mexico City Benito Juárez International (MEX) had to close runway 05R/23L following the appearance of a hole in the track due to heavy rain in the area. In total, this incident affected about 41 flights, airport authorities said in a statement.

A hole in the ground

At around 6:05 p.m. local time on Sunday, airport authorities in Mexico City announced on social media that they must immediately close runway 05R/23L to repair the area following the appearance of a hole in the ground near the area. touchdown.

Authorities said,

“The abundant amount of precipitation during this season and the constant landing of planes cause loosening of gravel in the area where planes land on the runway. As this is a critical area, it requires immediate repair, for which the track must be closed for safety reasons.

The track was closed between Sunday 6 p.m. and Monday 4 a.m. According to airport authorities, the rain made repaving the runway more difficult.

While the airport maintenance team was resurfacing Runway 05R/23L, landings and departures were only taking place from Runway 05L/23R, resulting in flight delays and cancellations. flights.

Who was impacted by the track closure?

On Monday, airport authorities issued a statement highlighting that the ten-hour runway closure resulted in delays of 35 flights, seven arrivals and 28 departures. In addition, three flights were canceled and three had to land elsewhere.

Lufthansa flight LH498 from Frankfurt International Airport to Mexico City, aboard a Boeing 747-8 registered D-ABYK, had to divert to Querétaro International Airport (QRO).

Aeromexico flight AM555 from Cancun to Mexico City was diverted to Acapulco, and American Airlines flight AM1566 from Washington also had to land in Querétaro due to the problems in Mexico City.

Mexico City leads the region in flight operations delays and cancellations this season. Photo: Getty Images.

MEX is plagued with delays this season

In recent months, Mexico City International Airport has led the Latin American region in terms of delays and cancellations of flight operations. MEX recorded 3,072 delays between April 1 and June 29, nearly three times as many as second in the Latin American region, Cancun, with 1,370 flight delays.

This high number of delays has impacted the operations of Mexico’s three largest airlines, Aeromexico, Viva Aerobus and Volaris.

Recently, the Mexican authorities declared that the airport had reached its saturation point and tried to impose a cap on the number of hourly operations from MEX. They also said that no airlines would be allowed to launch new flights to and from Mexico after the end of the IATA summer season; instead, they could launch flights from Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU) or Toluca International Airport (TLC), which also serve Mexico City.

In recent years, the MEX has been neglected by the Mexican authorities. First, it was neglected because the previous government was building Texcoco International Airport, which was supposed to take over all operations in Mexico City, forcing MEX to close.

The current government has canceled construction of the Texcoco airport and is honoring overdue payments to investors. At the same time, he built the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport, which meant less money was flowing into the Mexico City airport, which is run by the government. Instead, the money is flowing to the failed project and the new airport.

In the meantime, MEX had to function as the country’s main airport, but with minimal investment from the authorities. There is an overload of airline and passenger operations in the hub, which has led to chronic chaos, delays and cancellations.

Have you traveled to and from Mexico City International Airport? How was the experience? Let us know in the comments below.