Thick fog strands hundreds of frustrated travelers in Mérida’s airport
Flight delays left hundreds of travelers stranded in Mérida’s airport Tuesday night.
The late departures were apparently caused by a thick fog concentrated around Mexico City’s international airport.
Hundreds of passengers were forced to wait for several hours either in the airport terminal or on aircraft halted on the tarmac.
One group of frustrated passengers began to badger airline employees. The scuffle got so bad that members of the national guard at the airport were asked to intervene.
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There have been no reports of detentions or arrests of unruly passengers.
The fog in Mexico City also created delays in several of Mexico’s busiest airports including those in Monterrey, Guadalajara and Cancún.
Traffic continues to increase at Mérida’s Manuel Crescencio Rejón international airport, which is now operating as many as 20 daily flights to domestic and international destinations.
“We expect to see airlines continue to increase their number of flights,” said airport administrator Óscar Carillo Maldonado. International flights connecting Mérida with Houston and Miami have been operating at near maximum capacity over the past few months.
The recovery comes after a year that saw flights in and out of Mérida’s airport all but dried up due to COVID-19 pandemic. But despite a dramatic reduction in ticket sales and flights, the airport never suspended its operations.
