Purchasing land surrounding the airport for a future additional runway, however, is a pressing concern, he clarified.
Guadalajara does not want to end up like Mexico City, where expansion at the capital’s airport is now virtually impossible due to the surrounding urban sprawl, Gutierrez said.
The SCT recently restarted negotiations to buy land to the north of the Guadalajara airport owned by two ejidos (communal farming cooperatives), although a final agreement is still a long way off, Gutierrez admitted.
Gutierrez said the SCT has a reserve fund of 200 million pesos that could be used at any moment to purchase the land. The airport’s operators, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP), say they have 80 million pesos earmarked for preliminary work on a second runway once the federal government has bought the land.
GR staff