Guadalajara International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional de Guadalajara), also known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport (IATA: GDL, ICAO: MMGL). It opened in 1966 and is located 16 km south of the city centre of Guadalajara. In 2011, the airport handled 7,201,700 passengers, representing a 3.6% increase from 2010. It is Mexico's third busiest airport, after Mexico City International Airport and Cancún International Airport and second busiest for cargo flights.
Guadalajara's International Airport is composed of two runways and two terminals. It is also a major airport for connections, being a hub for Aeroméxico Connect and Volaris which is a primary gateway to the United States . also secondary hub for Aeroméxico a focus city for VivaAerobus, and Interjet. Flights are offered to several destinations within Mexico, Central America, and the United States.
The airport is named for Miguel Hidalgo, who began the war that brought Mexican independence from Spain. He has been called the "father of Mexican independence".
The airport is being renovated and expanded under a project that will allow it to double its operating capacity by 2007. This renovation includes a new Terminal 1 concourse and four additional taxiways. The new Terminal 2 was recently inaugurated, this facility is exclusive for express or regional flights, trying to serve as a relief for the already saturated Terminal 1. As of today, the airport has a desperate need for a new terminal, since during peak-hours, all of the contact positions in Terminal 1 get crowded, and the remote ones have to be used. In fact, there is a 30% chance that an aircraft gets a contact parking position at Guadalajara.
Read more about Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla International Airport: Expansion, Terminals, Airlines and Destinations, Traffic Statistics, Accidents and Incidents
Famous quotes containing the word airport:
“Airplanes are invariably scheduled to depart at such times as 7:54, 9:21 or 11:37. This extreme specificity has the effect on the novice of instilling in him the twin beliefs that he will be arriving at 10:08, 1:43 or 4:22, and that he should get to the airport on time. These beliefs are not only erroneous but actually unhealthy.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)