Cancun International Airport

The Cancun International Airport is located in Cancun, Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. It is Mexico’s second busiest airport, after Mexico City International Airport, but Mexico’s biggest for international passengers. In 2016, Cancun airport handled 21,415,795 passengers, a 9.28% increase compared to 2015.

The airport has three commercial terminals. Terminal 1 is used by some low-cost and charter domestic airlines; Terminal 2 is used by all of the scheduled domestic airlines and some international flights; and the new Terminal 3 (2007) handles primarily international operations of airlines from North America and Europe. It has two parallel operative runways that can be used simultaneously. The Cancun Airport was officially opened in 1974. The airport is operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR). Cancun is a focus city for Aeromexico, Interjet, VivaAerobus and Volaris, and currently offers flights to 21 destinations in Mexico and to over 30 countries in North, Central, South America and Europe.

The Cancun International Airport has been expanding as it has become the busiest point of entry by air to the country. In 2005, ASUR invested US$150 million for the construction of Terminal 3, inaugurated in 2007, and a new runway and a new control tower opened in October 2009. The new 2,800 meters long, 45 meters wide runway was built to the north of the current one; the new control tower is the tallest in Latin America standing at 97 meters tall.

Terminal 2 was recently expanded in 2014. A 76,000 m² expansion in Terminal 3 was simultaneously carried out, adding six gates and commercial areas, and it was formally opened in March 2016. The expansion should contribute to increase annual capacity to 10 million from the existing 6 million.