![Mexican president calls operations at main airport 'highly risky'](https://i-invdn-com.investing.com/trkd-images/LYNXMPEJ870NR_L.jpg)
©Reuters. Commercial jets await departure at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico, January 19, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Romero/File photo
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Operations at Mexico City’s main airport are “very risky,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday.
Mexico City International Airport (AICM) is running at 150% of its capacity, Lopez Obrador said at a regular news conference, as he tried to advocate for reducing the number of flights there.
Last year, his government opened a state airport north of the main hub to ease traffic congestion, although traffic there is still much lower than on the more centrally located AICM.
Government-imposed flight restrictions at the AICM will take effect in January, reducing the number of slots from 52 per hour to 43 per hour. Industry groups denounce this move.
The flight cuts would also affect the usage tax collected from each passenger traveling through the airport. The tax is currently being used to pay off about $4.2 billion in outstanding bonds from construction of an unfinished airport, which Lopez Obrador scrapped upon election.
Credit rating agency Fitch revised the outlook of the trust that manages the bonds, the Mexico City Airport Trust, from stable to negative earlier this week, citing concerns about the main airport’s ability to handle maintenance needs and significant passenger congestion.
Asked about the downgrade, Lopez Obrador said Friday that bondholders can be confident their investments are safe.