It’s been a long time coming, but the Guadalajara International Airport (GDL) will finally become Mexico’s fourth airport to feature at least two runways. The Transportation Ministry fully certified the new runway earlier this month and airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) announced its inauguration will take place on July 23. The second runway is the centerpiece of a five-year, $16 billion-peso (US $889 million) renovation project undertaken by the state government and GAP to convert the Guadalajara airport into western Mexico’s main air travel hub.
According to newspaper El Economista, the Jalisco state government spent $15 billion pesos (US $837 million) to build the runway, while the remaining investment went toward constructing a new terminal and modernizing the airport infrastructure. The new runway is 3.5 kilometers long and is a distance of 275 meters away from the other runway, giving the airport the capacity to manage 60 operations per hour, duplicating the number of flights currently operating and further consolidating GDL as a world-class airport.
“The second runway will increase opportunities for growth and boost economic development in the state,” said Xavier Orendaín, Jalisco’s top economic official. “The airport has already announced four new routes and a few more will be announced before the end of the year.” Orendáin said GAP recently submitted a master plan with recommendations for routing traffic within the vicinity.