Work on new Mérida airport to begin in April

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That new Mérida airport went from trial balloon to the construction phase awfully fast. Work on the site begins at the end of April.

Francisco Cervantes Díaz, president of the Yucatán Business Coordinating Council, indicated that the new Mérida airport would be included in the federal government’s third infrastructure package. While private investment was said to be funding the airport, taxpayers will have to pay for roads and other improvements leading to it.

The Merida international airport in the mid-20th century when its location was far from the city center. 

Renderings haven’t even been released, but the new Mérida airport is timed to begin construction after a special April 10 ballot initiative on whether or not voters want President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to finish out his six-year term. 

The “revocation of mandate” vote was one of López Obrador’s campaign promises before he was elected in 2018. He is not expected to lose his seat in office after the referendum.

The new air terminal in Poxilá was promoted by Yucatecan businessman José Antonio Loret de Mola Gómory. He will develop the entire associated complex, and ASUR will manage it as they do with the existing complex, the one in Cancún, and seven other Mexican airports.

Moving the airport will also free up acres of land for new commercial or residential development in the city, where land is at a premium. When the airfield was first established in the 1920s, its location was considered remote.