Airlines will have 108 days to change cargo operations

The Federal Government determined to increase only 18 business days to the maximum term for the airlines (national and international) that offer the exclusive cargo service to leave the International Airport of Mexico City (AICM), as of the publication of the respective decree. in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF).

The new established time is 108 business days, which is behind the 90 days proposed last week (considered inappropriate by the private sector given the complexities involved).

In line with the intention of shortening the approval times in the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer), this Wednesday afternoon the Legal Department of the Federal Executive (CJEF) released the updated version of the document that will be signed by President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador.

With this action, the deadlines proposed by the National Chamber of Air Transport (Canaero), 360 days, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), 180 days, to carry out an adequate migration to the airport that each company choose.

After hearing the opinion of various companies and specialists, the President said that no one would be forced to go to any terminal and that the decision would be made by consensus.

However, on the eve of the announcement of the new term, in his morning conference, he said that the term would not be modified (90 business days) and that it would begin to run from the moment DHL Express began operations at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport. (AIFA), at the end of February or beginning of March.

The facility run by the military has been offered as an alternative to cargo companies that must leave the AICM due to its proximity.

“And why are you worried that the cargo will go to AIFA if this is going to allow spaces to be freed up for the city’s airport? What worries them, if there are going to be fiscal precincts, if they have the railway, they have much more spaces?… And they say: Yes, we accept, but we want a year. They think I’m sucking my thumb. Why a year? They want to kick the boat. They say: He’s going to leave and we’re already staying,” AMLO said.

A state action

The latest version of the decree establishes the closure of the AICM for the operations of the air transport service to the public, its main objective is to publicize the actions aimed at satisfying the protected collective needs “through State intervention to reduce the number of operations in said air terminal and contribute to solving the saturation in the airfield and in the buildings of passenger terminals 1 and 2”.

In addition, it was reiterated that the measure does not include concessionaires and permit holders that provide combined passenger and cargo services, provided that the cargo is transported on the same aircraft as the passengers.

For its part, Turkish Airlines mentioned in a comment made this Wednesday that due to the haste of the decision, it should, at least, suspend its publication of the decree until an in-depth analysis has been carried out and with the active participation of all the authorities related to the provision of the public air cargo transport service; as well as all the union entities that may be directly or indirectly affected.

alejandro.delarosa@eleconomista.mx