Cancun, and a rebound in Puerto Rico, lead airport growth in Latin America

Mayan Train terminal will be built at Cancun airport

Cancun’s international airport. Photo: Getty

The management group that runs Merida’s international airport and nine others had a good fourth-quarter in 2018.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, or ASUR, said passenger traffic at its airports continues to ascend. It increased another 15 percent in the fourth quarter, pushing the full-year total up nearly 6 percent from 2017.

One notable driver was the company’s airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where traffic rebounded 30 percent year over year as the region began recovering from 2017’s Hurricane Maria. Two million passengers passed through the airport in the quarter.

The airport in Cancun remains ASUR’s biggest star attraction. Traffic increased by 7.3 percent to 6 million passenger in the quarter.

The company also benefited from 8.3 percent growth at its eight other Mexican airports.

Despite the strong traffic, total revenue declined 0.6 percent year over year. While commercial revenue per passenger increased by 0.2 percent, construction revenue from building restaurants and retail locations at its airports, plummeted almost 64 percent.

Operating costs in Mexico, meanwhile, rose 11 percent year over year due to increases in maintenance, energy, and security expenses, as well as an increase in the cost of sales relating to the opening of stores in the recently finished Terminal 4 at the Cancun Airport.

For the full year, passenger traffic increased by 5.6 percent to 52.3 million, led by a 7.3 percent increase in Mexico due in large part to Cancun.

Looking ahead, ASUR plans to build the Mayan Train terminal at the Cancun airport. Eventually, passengers in Merida will be able to get to the Cancun airport by rail.

Source: Motley Fool

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