© Reuters. The first cargo plane of the German postal and logistics group Deutsche Post (DHL) arrives at the Felipe Ángeles international airport, prior to the inauguration of its new cargo facilities, in Zumpango, Mexico, February 28, 2023. REUTERS/Toya Sarno Jordan
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By Kylie Madry
SANTA LUCIA, Mexico (Reuters) – Logistics giant DHL will double its planned investment in Mexico through 2024, executives said on Tuesday, as it shifts cargo flights from the capital’s closest airport to a new distant facility backed by the country’s president .
The company will invest $600 million in Mexico through next year, on top of its previous plan to spend $300 million from 2019 to 2024, company executives said after an event with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The strategy includes about $55 million for cargo operations at Mexico City’s new Felipe Angeles International Airport, according to Antonio Arranz, DHL’s country head.
DHL is the first cargo carrier to transfer its flights from Mexico City’s more central Benito Juárez airport to the new hub after a presidential decree earlier this month required the move by July.
López Obrador argued that the move to the new airport was necessary because there was insufficient space in Benito Juárez, but critics criticized the move as hasty and an attempt to increase traffic at the still-unpopular airport, which opened last year.
At Tuesday’s event, López Obrador highlighted Felipe Ángeles’ state-of-the-art facilities and said the airport would break even in December, almost two years after it opened.
DHL expects three daily flights to arrive in Felipe Ángeles by June, Arranz said, including a new route. The flights will move 120 tons of cargo a day through the facility, he added.
The new route will be operated by Canadian partner Cargojet, Arranz told Reuters, as Mexican airlines are currently unable to open new routes in the US due to a downgrade in air safety by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Another senior executive hinted at additional DHL investments in Mexico but offered few details.
“In the next 60 to 90 days, we will be making … another investment … in a city that we currently operate out of here in Mexico,” said Mike Parra, the company’s regional director.
($1 = 18.3095 Mexican pesos)
