Tulum Airport

     Finally! After years of political and public wrangling, threats of suits and countersuits, the second airport for the Mexican Caribbean region known as the Tulum International Airport (TUY) apparently is now close to become a reality. Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon made the official announcement  that the airport aimed at servicing the Riviera Maya and its passenger needs, has received final approval.

The development of the new Tulum airport had been put on hold for many years due to political issues and a complex bidding process. The fact that the President of Mexico Felipe Calderon made a diversion from  the annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in Cancun to announce the new airport has made many doubters realize it really is going ahead

No more doubts. No more gossip. No more speculation. The new Tulum International Airport for the Riviera Maya is on its way.

Government Promised Fair Competition For Tulum Airport

     The bidding process for the construction of the facility will open on April 15th and close May 28th. Proposals then are to be submitted starting on November 3rd and the wining bid will be announced on  December 5th of this year. Tulum airport should be ready to start operations in the first half of 2014.

Potential bidders are thought to include:

• Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR), actual operator of the Cancun airport.
• Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA), operator of northern Mexican airports including Monterrey and Acapulco.
• Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP)
• Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL), one of Spain's largest construction companies.
• Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina (IDEAL), Carlos Slim's construction company.
•  Macquarie.(MAp), formerly Macquarie Airports, invests in airports worldwide. MAp holds investments in Sydney Airport, Brussels Airport, Copenhagen Airports and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR).
• Abertis Infraestructuras The company runs 6,713 kilometers of motorways in Europe and operates more than a dozen airports in cities including London, Stockholm and Orlando.
• Bouygues Batiment International.Telecom/media services and new construction businesses (construction, roads, buildings, etc.)

UPDATE!

The full, detailed requirements for bidders were published in Mexico's Official Federation Journal.The document confirmed that the Riviera Maya airport concession will be granted to the winning bidder for a period of 50 years.

Bidders have 3 stages to complete:

Register and gain authorization to enter the competition.

Seek approval from the Federal Competition Commission.

Present technical and economical proposals.

The last part of the process will be completed in November and sources say a winner will be chosen by December 23, 2010, although this is still to be officially confirmed.

Tulum Airport Details

     Some details for the new Tulum International Airport provided by the government’s agency for Airports and Auxiliary Services (ASA):

• The new Tulum airport is scheduled to cost approximately $300 million USD in the first phase and another $75 million USD in its second and third phase. All of the financing will be private, with no government aid or subsidies involved.
• The airport will be in the the municipality of Solidaridad, to the east of Xel-Ha, between Tulum and Playa del Carmen, on the road to Cobá. It will be 40 miles (65 km) from Cozumel airport and 63 miles (102 km) from Cancún airport at map coordinates’s 20° 20’ 30” (N) and 87° 30’ 30” (W), 10 miles (15.8 km) from the coast at Punta Cadenas, to the south of Tankah
• The Capacity of the airport is 700,000 passengers in the first year, rising to 3 million in its third year.
• First Mexican airport funded and built entirely with private investment, under a government concession.
• Built on approximately 3,700 acres (1,500 hectares) of  land. Includes terminal building, 3,773 yard (3,450m) runway, taxiways, operating areas, fuel station and control tower.
• Modern technology and installations, with ability to receive short and long haul flights, including those to and from Europe.
• The main runway will have orientation to 120°-300° as in Cancun and Cozumel and in accordance with prevailing winds.
• The main runway will be 2.2 miles (3.5km) long by 50 yards (45m) wide, corresponding with international aviation recommendations.
• The total area of the Tulum International Airport land is estimated at 3,700 acres (1,500 hectares). The land where the airport will be built is 65.6 feet (20m) above sea level.

Tulum International Airport Benefits

Reuters news  said, "The government wants the Riviera Maya International Airport because the region, just south of Cancun, is a booming tourist area especially around Playa del Carmen, which is popular with US and European visitors."

“Tulum airport is necessary because the Riviera Maya receives more foreign tourists than anywhere else in Mexico, including Cancun” Source CNN

According to Fox Business, “The airport would help serve the booming tourism industry" .

NASDAQ reported the estimated cost for the airport project at $255 million and  they quoted the President Felipe Calderon saying “the new Riviera Maya airport will have a capacity of as many as 3 million passengers per year”.

Dow Jones mentioned in their coverage that it will be "the first airport in Mexico to have every aspect of its construction funded by private investment."

The government's Secretary for Transport and Communications said “The airport will detonate economic development in the area and reduce transfer times from Cancun and Cozumel”.

Not Everything That Glitters is Gold.

     There have been some protests about building this airport, set to cover 400 hectares (988 acres) of land near Coba, a bit inland, that is to say, west of Tulum and southwest of Playa del Carmen. An environmental group is concerned that the underground river system considered the longest and most important in the world may suffer permanent damage from the construction of the airport .

Government authorities have noted that the project has met all the environmental regulations and concerns and  President  Calderon in his announcement indicated that he had given instructions to excuersice the greatest degree of care for the environment when the construction takes place.

     Some have expressed concern that this second airport, so close relatively to Cancun International Airport, would prove too competitive to the latter and cut into its operational profits. However the secretariat of communications and transportation has indicated that he sees the second airport as an adjunct rather than an impediment. the new airport would simply serve to alleviate the passenger congestion that continues to occur as a result of the increase of hotel rooms and condominiums in the Riviera Maya.

The international airport has been met with mixed reactions from the people in the area. While it is sure to bring much attention and new business to the area, environmentalist worry about the impact of the local eco structure which has made Tulum such a magical spot and has already shown signs of negative effect by all of the new attention.

How do you feel about it? What do you think? Please leave a comment with your reactions.