The new airport in Jalisco’s southern coastal region, commonly known as Costalegre, will be completed by the end of this month, Governor Enrique Alfaro announced recently.
The operating model for Chalacatepec Airport will be decided by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT) once the new facility is “delivered” to the federal agency, he said.
However, many are wondering whether the airport will be kept under federal government control or be allowed into private hands for management.
Jalisco’s two other passenger airports, Guadalajara’s Miguel Hidalgo International and Puerto Vallarta’s Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International, are operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) under a 50-year concession granted in 1998. The Mexican government began privatizing the country’s airport network in 1996, and GAP, along with other companies like Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste—which operate the Monterrey and Cancún airports, respectively—took advantage of this opportunity. Some airports, however, remained in government hands, including the Mexico City International Airport, which was managed by the parastatal Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México.
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