The Diario de Yucatan is reporting that the new airport will be located in between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, 15. 8 kilometers from the coastline in a straight line from Punta Cadenas south of Tankah. (Anyone got their Google Earth up and running???) It also says that: 1.- It will handle about 5 million passengers per year. 2.- The first stage will cost between $70 and $150 million dollars. 3.- The State government will only be involved in the donation of the land for the project. 1070 hectares. 4.- The runway will be 3,500 meters long and 45 meters wide.
Airport concerns? Jim, How do you feel about a new airport. Will it affect the tourists numbers in Cancun or will it be a blessing and take some of the burden off Cancun's airport? Peace!
If you look at Google Earth, you can see where they already have the runways cleared. Then again, depending on how old the aerial imagery is, they could be a lot farther along than what GE is showing.
My personal feeling is that it is not economically feasible AT THIS TIME. I think it would be beneficial for the direct international charter flights from Europe and eventually direct flights from the U.S. and Canada BUT it takes a long time for a new airport to get enough flights to make it profitable--especially with all of the existing infrastructure of the Cancun airport. People will not increase their cost in time and money to buy an additional ticket from CAncun to the new airport when they can get transportation quicker and cheaper in a van. As the Rivera Maya grows further south and as airlines have sufficient demand for direct flights then it will work financially. JMHO of course. But, as in most cases here and there, the final decision will not be a business decision but a political one. They have been fantasizing about this for 10 years but now the new President who wants to be seen as a man of action has said it will happen this year, so my guess is that it will. OK--maybe not this year but soon and the airport will be used initially by European charters that supply lots of people to all inclusives in the area.
They did say in the paper today that some preliminary work has already been done. Where did you look? I can't seem to find anything that looks like nascient runways on Google Earth with the general coordinates given between Playa and Tulum.
I think you're right Jim. The one theory I have heard is that it is in anticipation of more development of the Riviera Maya and eventually the Costa Maya further south. But, in my opinion, there needs to be a lot of planning and development of the infrastructure and tourism further south before tourism demands will increase to a level requiring another airport. It seems to me that with the improvements happening on 307 all the way towards Tulum, the current system is working pretty well. Aside from a second airport to use if either was screwed up by a hurricane, I dont see the need for an additional airport. While some people may complain about a 2 hour drive to their resort from the airport, its still relatively close.
I would love to be able to fly directly to the Playa area, and avoid the Cancun airport and the drive down 307. It would save me time and money (we use a private transport) to get to Playa.
I'm surprised they didn't locate it further south closer to Belize. Having a major airport relatively close to the Cancun airport doesn't seem like a strategic decision to me.
