Tijuana's airport preparing for cross-border bridge - Interview with CEO of Mexican group that operates the Tijuana airport
From The San Diego Union Tribune
By Sandra Dibble
TIJUANA - "Fernando Bosque Mohino is chief executive of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP), a holding company based in Guadalajara that operates
the A.L. Rodríguez International Airport in Tijuana and 11 other airports across Mexico.
Bosque is a key player in the development of a privately owned, cross-border facility to be used exclusively by ticketed airline passengers who pay a
toll. Those users would be allowed to cross directly between San Diego and Tijuana through a 525-foot pedestrian bridge linking the Tijuana airport to
a 45,000-square-foot terminal in Otay Mesa.
Bosque was interviewed during a visit to Tijuana and San Diego this week. Despite some hurdles and delays, he said the plan is moving forward.
The U.S. company spearheading the project, Otay-Tijuana Ventures LLC, is in negotiations with U.S. Customs and Border Protection over issues that
include who would pay the salaries of federal officers assigned to the facility.
In Tijuana, GAP has been fighting legal challenges from the municipal government: Mayor Carlos Bustamante has said he won't grant a land-use permit
for the airport terminal expansion to accomodate the project until the company pays overdue property taxes.
Bosque said the only permit he needs is from Mexico's federal government, and that GAP hopes to begin construction by April.
Question: Why did GAP decide to participate in this project?
Answer: This is an idea that is more than 20 years old. It's good for the region, it's good for Tijuana to have more connections so that people can
travel to more places. This is not just something that's needed on one side of the border. It's needed on both sides.
Q: On the U.S. side, the cross-border project would involve construction of the terminal in Otay Mesa and the binational bridge. What needs to happen
on the Mexican side?
A: The Tijuana airport is simply adapting its facilities and facilitating the connection to the bridge. We're going to invest more than $14.5 million
to expand the airport's existing international terminal.
Q: What's your timetable?
A: We've already started the process. By the end of February, we should have final construction plans and submit them for the Mexican federal
government's approval in March. Construction would be completed by May or June 2014. We'd like to see operation begin by July 1, 2014.
Q: Who would use the cross-border facility?
A: There's a large number of residents in the California region who have connections to Mexico. Fifty-nine percent of passengers who use the Tijuana
airport are either coming from or going to California.
With the construction of this crossing, they would avoid the risk that U.S. citizens sometimes feel about entering Mexico. They would feel more
comfortable, more secure, and save time.
Next year, the Tijuana airport expects to move 4 million passengers. We estimate that about half of them would benefit from this new border crossing.
There still would be a certain number who prefer to cross by land (at the San Ysidro and Otay ports of entry).
Q: Do you anticipate that a cross-border facility would spur more people to use the Tijuana airport?
A: The Tijuana airport is much more economical than some of the airports in California. It will be convenient for travelers to buy cheaper tickets in
Tijuana. It's an opportunity for travelers and an opportunity for airlines.
Our expectation is that the project will spur a growth of perhaps 1 million additional passengers over the next 10 years. Without the cross-border
facility, we would expect to grow to 5.5 million passengers in 10 years.
Q: Is there a plan at this point to expand to new markets?
A: One of the opportunities we're looking at is the access from some destinations in Asia to Mexico and the United States, using Tijuana as an entry
point. It's a convenience that some companies in Asia - including China and Korea - could take advantage of, and it would relieve traffic in some
airports in California.
Q: Has the proposal generated interest from airlines?
A: The airline that's most interested is Aeromexico. Its market is the medium-premium market. The kind of customer expected to use the border crossing
has greater spending capacity. The kinds of people who would use the crossing ... have property in the San Diego region and farther north. Those
travelers from Mexico going to the United States would cross for shopping and tourism, and to visit family and friends.
Q: There have been complaints on the Mexican side that Tijuana residents won't benefit from the bridge and related expansion of the airport, and that
cross-border transportation companies stand to lose a lot of customers. What's your response to that?
A: It does contribute to the community. It creates employment, it creates connections and access to the region and the entire country. The airport
contributes 5 percent of its revenues to the federal government (about $2.3 million per year in concession fees) in addition to $4.6 million that it's
paying in federal taxes.
Q: Tijuana Mayor Carlos Bustamante has said that his administration won't greenlight any airport expansion until your group pays municipal property
taxes owed for years now. Your response?
A: Airports are federal property in Mexico. The GAP in Tijuana ... is using federal installations, and we are the operators managing the facilities.
Any permits we need would come from Mexico's Communications and Transportation Secretariat and no one else. We are not subject to property taxes or to
city licensing and permits."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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