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Mexico: New planned airport to have capacity for 20M in 2021

MEXICO CITY — Mexico is presenting details of a project to convert a military air base outside the capital for civilian use, after a partially built new airport was cancelled in recent months.

Officials say the Santa Lucia airport north of Mexico City will have three runways and a capacity for 20 million passengers per year in an initial phase expected to be ready in 2021. It is to be built and operated by the military.

The abandoned Texcoco airport project had a price tag of $13 billion. Officials say converting Santa Lucia plus losses from the cancellation will total $9 billion.

Gen. Gustavo Ricardo Vallejo said Friday that Santa Lucia will be “functional, economical and sustainable.”

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador scrapped the Texcoco project after holding a referendum last year.

The Associated Press