Welcome everyone to a very fresh and updated guide to the busiest airport in Latin America. This guide has the purpose to guide the pilots who are interested in flying into this particiular airport. This guide has the objective of giving a realistic experience when flying in/out from MEX, which includes the airlines and terminals, runways, or even taxiway accommodations for specific planes (i.e: the Boeing 748).
So, without further delay, let’s get this started! Bienvenidos al Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México!!
Table of contents, just in case...
- Introduction
- Airlines and their respective terminals; Cargo Airlines
- The runway usage in MMMX; taxiway accomodation for the B748 & A388.
- SID’s & STAR’s
- Silent Dangers in Mexico City
Introduction: Mexico City
Before we get strated and go to the airport, let’s have a quick peak on the city itself. Welcome to CDMX, a very HUGE city. This is obviously the capital city of México. The city, even with a lot of pollution, and a hell of traffic (both in ground and in air, no joke), it is very know for some remarkable (and historical) landmarks, including “El Ángel de la Independencia” (picture above), “El Palacio de Bellas Artes”, Chapultepec, or even the archaeological sites in the surroundings of the city (such as Teotihuacán, Tenochtitlán, etc). It’s also known for the gastronomy (basically the whole country is known for that lol).
Obviously, the city is served by Benito Juarez International Airport (MMMX) and (a controversial) Felipe Angeles Intl (MMSM), but today we are seeing MMMX, because is an interesting, busy, but also a dangerous airport, with a huge variety of destinations to serve (and because is one of my favourite airports).
Terminals, Airlines and Destinations
MMMX has two terminals. On Terminal 1 operates most of the international airlines, while Aeromexico (Mexico’s flag carrier) operates mostly on Terminal 2. More details are found below. Source: Wikipedia…
As a pharentheses, this airport is the 8th most connected in the world, and the most connected ouside of the U.S, according to the OAG.
Airport Map
| Section | Color |
|---|---|
| Terminal 1 / National | Blue |
| Terminal 2 / International | Red |
| Cargo | White |
| Terminal 2 | Yellow |
| Aeromar Stands | Green/Black Arrow |
TERMINAL 1
| Airline | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aeromexico Connect | Campeche, Ciudad Obregón, Culiacán, Durango, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Los Mochis, Manzanillo, Matamoros, Mazatlán, Minatitlán/Coatzacoalcos, Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Tampico, Zacatecas | |
| Air Canada | Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver | |
| Air France | Paris-CDG | AF179-Daily Flight Departing 7:40P.M local Time |
| All Nippon Airways | Tokyo-Narita | ANA179-Daily Flight Departing 2:05A.M local flight |
| American | Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix–Sky Harbor | JFK-MEX starts on Nobember 4th |
| Avianca | Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, San José-Costa Rica (Avianca Costa Rica), San Salvador (Avianca El Salvador) | |
| British Airways | London-LHR | BA242-Daily Flight Departing 11:00P.M Local Time |
| Emirates | Dubai | Via Barcelona // EK256 Daily Flight, 7:40P.M Local Time |
| Iberia | Madrid-Barajas | 2-3 Daily Flights: Departs in the Morning, Afternoon and Night |
| KLM | Amsterdam-Schiphol | KLM686-Daily Flight, 9:05P.M Local Time |
| LATAM | Sao Paulo-GRU, Santiago de Chile, Lima | |
| Lufthansa | Frankfurt, Munich (Not operating) | LH499 to Frankfurt: B748, Only uses gate 26; Special Taxi procedures; Daily Flight, 8:50P.M Local Time // To Munich, use A359 |
| Magnicharters | Cancún, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Mérida, Puerto Vallarta, San José del Cabo | Charter Flights |
| Turkish Airlines | Istanbul | IST-MEX is direct // MEX-IST via CUN |
| United | Chicago-O’Hare, Houston-George Bush, New York-Newark, San Francisco, Washington-Dulles | |
| Viva Aerobus | Acapulco, Bogotá, Chetumal, Chicago-O’Hare, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, Dallas/Fort Worth, Hermosillo, Houston-Intercontinental, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, La Paz, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Mazatlán, Mérida, New York-JFK, Nuevo Laredo, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Vallarta, Reynosa, San Antonio, San José del Cabo, Tampico, Torreón/Gómez Palacio, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Veracruz, Villahermosa | |
| Viva Air Colombia | Bogotá, Medellín, Cartagena | |
| Volaris | Acapulco, Bogotá, Cancún, Chetumal, Chicago-O’Hare, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Cozumel, Culiacán, Dallas/Forth Worth, Denver, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Houston-Intercontinental, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, La Paz, Las Vegas, Lima, Los Angeles, Los Mochis, Mazatlán, Mérida, Mexicali, Miami, Monterrey, Oakland, Oaxaca, Orlando, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Vallarta, Sacramento, San Antonio, San José del Cabo, Tapachula, Tijuana, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Villahermosa, San José-Costa Rica (Volaris Costa Rica), Guatemala City (Volaris Costa Rica), El Salvador (Volaris el Salvador) |
TERMINAL 2
| Airline | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aeromar | Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Ciudad Victoria, Colima, Guadalajara, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Ixtepec, Laredo, McAllen, Piedras Negras, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Vallarta, Tepic, Villahermosa | Operates on Aeromar Stands |
| Aeromexico | Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bogotá, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Cancún, Chicago-O’Hare, Chihuahua, Culiacán, Denver, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, La Habana, Las Vegas, Lima, Londres-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Madrid, Medellín-JMC, Mérida, Mexicali, Miami, Monterrey, Montreal-Trudeau, New York-JFK, Orlando, Paris-CDG, Puerto Vallarta, Quito, San Francisco, San José de Costa Rica, San José del Cabo, Santiago de Chile, São Paulo-GRU, Seattle/Tacoma, Seoul-Incheon,Tijuana, Tokyo-Narita, Toronto-Pearson, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Vancouver, Villahermosa | Flights to Asia currently suspended due to restriction on the Russian Airspace, and the strict rules on COVID-19 // Flight to Barcelona is Suspended |
| Aeromexico Connect | Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Austin, Cancún, Chetumal, Chihuahua, Ciudad de Guatemala, Ciudad del Carmen, Ciudad Juárez, Dallas/Fort Worth, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Houston-Intercontinental, Huatulco, La Paz, León/El Bajío, Managua, Mérida, Mexicali, Monterrey, Morelia Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido, Puerto Vallarta, Querétaro, San Antonio, San José del Cabo, San Luis Potosí, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Santo Domingo, Tapachula, Tegucigalpa/Comayagua, Torreón/Gómez Palacio, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Veracruz, Villahermosa | |
| Copa Airlines | Panama-Tocumen | |
| Delta | Atlanta-Hartsfield, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City | |
| Wingo | Bogota |
Cargo
Although most of the cargo operations are moving to NLU, we will pretend there is still airliners operating here. The airliners commonly seen in MEX are Aerounión, Cargolux, and Estafeta. Here is a list of the operators, according to AICM’s main website
- Aerounión (Only National Flights)
- Amerijet
- Cargolux
- Estafeta
- Lufthansa Cargo
- Mas Air
- Tampa Cargo
- UPS
- Cathay Pacific Cargo
- Qatar Cargo
- Turkish Cargo
- CAL Cargo
- Emirates Sky Cargo
Important Note: Due to the high elevation in MMMX for an extremely heavy aircraft, most of the long-haul flights do, as a minimum, a stop in Guadalajara. (GDL-MMGL)
Runway usage / Taxiway operations for B748 & A380
Here is some runway information, based in Infinite Flight
| Runway | Length |
|---|---|
| 05L/23R | 12912ft |
| 05R/23L | 13427ft |
Here is the normal runway usage in MMMX:
Landing runway is 5R/23L, and departing runway is 5L/23R. Heavy aircraft and some Aeromexico flights use only 5R/23L for depatures, mostly for being the longest runway. This may cause arivals into 5L/23R. Is very common seeing an arrival and a depature at the same time (in different runways of course).
FOR THE SAKE OF REALISM AND SAFETY, PARALLEL DEPATURES & PARALLEL LANDINGS ARE NOT ALLOWED IRL
And here is the taxiway accomodation for the B748 and the A380 (Aircraft Not Operating IRL)
Lufthansa is the only operator with the B748-Intercontinental, so well… only use Gate 26 in T1.
When landing, use the same path.
SID’s & STAR’s
I think with the Images will be enough…
Depatures:
Arrivals:
Silent Dangers in Mexico City
Although the airport is kinda big and we can see tons of traffic, it can be considered one of the most difficult airports in Latin America. First at all, the airport cannot grow up anymore, meaning that the airport is over the limits (ovrecrowd). However, IATA is investigating which maximum operations per hour should be used. Even with the opening of Santa Lucia and Toluca, MEX cannot take a breath.
Secondly (I think this is pretty notorious), is the terrain that surrounds Mexico City. This makes the airport dangerous. In my opinion, this is one of the reason why there is not a lot STAR’s here. Then, add the “hot & high”… literally: 7,300ft aprox. with temperatures that could go up to 30° C. This complicates the operations, as there is less air density.
Finally, the famous approach into the 05’s. Since you can’t actually go on a straight in from 10 miles due to the terrain, the arrivals start the final turn at 7.5-6nm from the threeshold. If we go to and airport which is 30ft MSL, it should be ok. However, turning final at that distance in MEX can be challenging, as there is low density, and we get on a risk of a stall.
So, here is some personal tips:
- Do not exceed 250kts at 10,000 AGL (in MEX, 17,500MSL). I’ve seen people approaching at crazy speeds since they are above 10K MSL. Don’t do that.
- When approaching the final turn to 05’s, do not exceed 160KIAS. It will help you out on a tight turn. On heavies, more use of flaps could be needed. (Flaps 20° aprox.) If you overshoot the LOC “a bit”, that’s ok.
- Landings speeds in GS will be inevitably higher. Use more (Auto)Brakes and reversers when on the landing roll.
- Use like 10-15% more of power when taking off. If necessary, use Full Throttle.
- Enjoy Mexico City! Is always good doing a visit there :)
Thank you for visiting this guide.
I hope this can be very useful for your next visit ;)