Cancun, Q.R. — Flights into Cancun International from Mexico City were disrupted for nearly three days by bad weather. International flights in and out of Mexico City were also disrupted due to heavy rain and poor visibility. The airport says more than 100 flights and 14,000 passengers were affected by the back-to-back storms.
Cancun International Airport reported disruptions to air operations early this week due to the ongoing rain in Mexico City. On Tuesday, Cancun airport managing company ASUR reported eight delayed flight including a Volaris flight arriving from Mexico City and a Turkish Airlines flight arriving from Istanbul.
Six Cancun flights bound for Mexico City, three Aeroméxico flights to Mexico City, two Volaris flights and one Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, left the tarmac late. The delays, and in some instances cancellations, were caused by heavy thunderstorms that started Sunday evening.
More than a dozen Cancun flights were affected by back-to-back storms that left sections of the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) severely flooded. Hundreds of travelers were left standing in long lines inside the Mexico City airport due to flight delays. Passengers on cancelled flights slept inside the airport.
Updated flight information screens inside AICM displayed lines of “closed” runways due to flooding which caused delays in aircraft landing and taking off from one of Mexico’s main airports.
On Tuesday, the Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City reported on the system that left the airport scrambling to keep up. “At approximately 7:45 p.m. on August 10, due to heavy rains that occurred in the late afternoon and evening in the airport area, which, according to reports from Mexico City authorities, could have reached 50 to 77 mm of precipitation, air operations were suspended.
“Due to reports of poor visibility and flooding caused by the rain, in order to avoid compromising operational safety, landing and takeoff operations were suspended for approximately four hours by order of the aeronautical authority to carry out work to remove the water left by the torrential rain, which would allow operational capacity to be restored.
“The intensity of the atypical storm also caused various areas of the terminal buildings to be affected, collapsing the storm drain system, despite the fact that some areas had completed maintenance work in 2024 and earlier this year.
“To address the flooding, both in the aeronautical area and in the buildings and roads around the airport, vactor equipment and motor pumps were put into operation to ensure optimal conditions on the runways, taxiways, and platforms, enabling the resumption of air operations,” AICM reported.
They also said “104 flights and 14,892 passengers were affected, and their flight plans were diverted to alternate airports. At 00:05 on August 11, flights resumed on runway 05 left – 23 right, and at 06:00 on runway 05 right – 23 left.”
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), headed by Jesús Antonio Esteva Medina, reported that an inter-institutional meeting was held with the participation of the Benito Juárez International Airport of Mexico City (AICM), the National Water Commission (Conagua), and the Government of Mexico City.
The goal was to address the impacts registered in the AICM and its surrounding areas, resulting from contingencies due to rain. “At the meeting, the implementation of various actions was agreed upon to ensure the safe and continuous operation of the Airport,” the SICT said without providing details.
