In a recent visit to the Los Cabos International Airport Jose Angel Martinez Sanchez the director of the airport group that runs the Cabo facility revealed that if things stay on the current trajectory the Cabo airport will have seen over 7 million passengers board planes to and from the region by the end of the year. In the first 6 months of the year already 3.5 million people have boarded planes at the San Jose del Cabo based international airport. In spite of the fact that Spring Break, and the start of the summer season have already passed Martinez Sanchez is confident that the end of the year will be just as busy. He mentioned,
“In the first 6 months of 2022 the airport has seen around 3.5 million passengers. That number is 44% higher than what we saw last year, and 19% higher than the records for the same months in 2019. If everything goes how we expect it to, we should be seeing around 7 million passengers pass through the airport. That would be an absolute record in the history of the facility.”
The Los Cabos International Airport Is Set To Be Expanded In The Coming Years
Even though the Cabo airport is set to receive what would be a record breaking number of passengers throughout the year, more airlines want to be able to use the main airline hub in the Mexican Pacific. For that reason the general director of the Los Cabos international airport announced that the company that runs the facility has purchased almost 150 acres of land from the territorial reserve that borders the airport. The main goal behind the purchase is to expand the second runway at the airport in an effort to increase the number of planes that will be able to arrive at the facility per hour.
The airport is set to invest over 14 million dollars on the renovation that is set to be completed in the coming years. The general director of the Cabo airport explained that the facility typically receives around 50 to 70 landings, and departures per day during the offseason.
For the upcoming busier summer days the airport could see up to 100 planes arriving and taking off per day. For comparison the Cancun airport, which is the busiest Mexican airport at a beach destination, gets around 500 flights coming and going on a daily basis on busy days. Without a doubt the Cabo airport is still a smaller facility with plenty of room to grow.
Cabo Tourism Promoters Have Their Eyes Set On The European Market
An expansion to the Cabo airport would likely see the arrival of more flights from the United States and Canada to this part of the Mexican Pacific. They are the two countries that send the most foreign tourists to the region annually, and that doesn’t seem likely to change any time soon. However, local tourism promoters were delighted by the arrival of the first direct flight from Madrid Spain to Los Cabos. Rodrigo Esponda, from FITURCA, one of the biggest promoters of the region revealed that his organization had been in talks with airlines from multiple European countries to try and bring more flights from Europe to Los Cabos. Rodrgio Esponda mentioned,
“We’ve had talks with companies from the main European markets such as Germany, Switzerland, France, and the UK. In many cases we’re very close to being able to announce new partnerships with airlines from those countries.”
If things continue on the current trajectory with the planned expansion and flights from more countries across the globe looking to land in Los Cabos the record of 7 million passengers that can be set this year may not stand for long.