The draft justifies the item of savings through the costs of airport services, comparing the rates charged in the AICM with those of the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA).
The document makes a comparison of the rates charged to more than 10,000 cargo operations, carried out between January and November 2022, and taking as an example a 250-ton aircraft. By comparing the costs of landing, parking and overnight, it was determined a saving of 1 million 441,859 pesos assuming that the 16 cargo airlines had operated at AIFA instead of AICM.
Although the project also considers a “indirect benefit” of 232 million 57,824.68 pesos, this is an amount calculated based on the risk of accidents due to the saturation of the airspace, which, according to the authorities, would be reduced by closing cargo operations at the capital airport.
Despite being an indirect benefit, the bill uses this calculation to justify that the benefits of the regulation are greater than its costs in its registration in the Regulatory Impact Manifestation System. Nevertheless, the draft does not consider another set of costssuch as the change in the logistics of transporting some products and inputs.
“From AIFA, the distance is greater than Mexico City or the State of Mexico, where there are warehouses, factories and warehouses,” explains Fernando Gómez Suárez, a specialist in the aviation sector. “The cost of moving to other places – which if it is not the AIFA, could be the Puebla Airport or of Queretaro– would also make the products more expensive.”
Even the benefit to alleviate the saturation in operations could be little, since during 2022 commercial cargo operations concentrated only 3% of the total commercial operationsaccording to data from the AICM itself.
The veto on freighters in the AICM could collaterally benefit commercial airlines, which transport cargo inside their warehouses; However, its capacity is low compared to airlines dedicated exclusively to cargo, which have greater capacities.
“It is necessary to draw up a strategy to encourage or encourage regular cargo airlines to move to another airport, and that doing so does not consequently make products and services more expensive,” concludes Gómez Suárez.