Los Cabos Airport Renovations Causing Headaches For Tourists

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Last Updated 1 year ago

A common saying is that first impressions matter. For most tourists to Los Cabos, that first impression generally is the Los Cabos International Airport.

Unfortunately, for many, that first impression is not the best.

Baggage Claim Woes

According to Los Cabos International Airport Director Francisco Villaseñor Reyes, the biggest headache with international visitors is the baggage claim area.

Tourists, eager to start their beach resort destination vacation in Los Cabos, complain that it takes too long for luggage to arrive at the baggage claim at the airport.

Part of the delay is related to the fact that Los Cabos International Airport uses a number of apron positions for unloading passengers as opposed to jetways.

Apron positions, where tourists depart the airplane using stairs to the tarmac instead of a bridge direct to the airport, takes longer to transfer luggage to the baggage claim area.

Villaseñor Reyes is committed to speeding up the baggage claim process so that tourists can get on their way enjoying their vacation faster.

Terminal 2 Expansion

The fact is also that the Los Cabos International Airport has not kept up with the amazing growth in passenger traffic from the airlines.

Few people could have predicted that in 2023, the Los Cabos International Airport would be the third busiest international destination in Mexico, right behind Cancun and Mexico City.

The airport has been substantially busier than anticipated and experiences much more traffic that can be efficiently served by the overall capacity of the airport. This has led to more use of apron positions for embarking and disembarking of passengers.

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However, an expansion at Terminal 2 at the Los Cabos International Airport is proceeding to reduce the number of headaches tourists experience when arriving at the airport.

While Villaseñor Reyes admits that the headaches will continue for several more months, he said there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and the opening of the new gates in Terminal 2 is expected in late 2023 or early 2024.

More than 70 percent of the visitors to Los Cabos use Terminal 2.

Migration and Customs Entry Delays

The Los Cabos International Airport, in coordination with the Mexican federal government, has committed to resolve the issues related to migration and customs entry delays for visitors to the country.

They will deploy new e-gates to the airport to streamline the passport control process for visitors with microchipped passports.

It is estimated most visitors to Los Cabos already have passports with this technology.

The next step for the Los Cabos International Airport is to speed up the entry process at the migration and customs stations.

Recently, the director of the department at the airport made a commitment to passengers to eventually get the entry process for tourists down to 20 seconds.

While the airport is not capable of handling that process currently, technology planning is underway to achieve the goal.

However, the director also confirmed that speeding up the process from the amount of time it takes today is not dependent on the deployment of this new technology.

Changes are already being made to the process to speed tourists through and on their way to their Los Cabos vacation.

What It All Means For Visitors

While it may be a headache now for visitors to maneuver the different issues at the Los Cabos International Airport, work is underway to improve the process.

Soon, visitors to Los Cabos will be able to speed through the entire process in a renovated terminal with state-of-the-art technology.

It will enhance the experience visitors have and hopefully make a more positive impression on visitors upon arrival.

That’s until the growth once again outstrips the facilities available at one of the busiest airports in the entire country of Mexico.