The “great success” that needs connectivity miracles
It seems that we have discovered gunpowder, but without a fuse. For the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) to stop being that place where you arrive by adventure and faith, and become a real airport, we need something revolutionary: infrastructure that works and can be predicted. Who would have thought? The Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Concanaco-Servytur) has had an epiphany worthy of a Nobel Prize in Logistics: an airport needs to be well connected. Its statement, a paragon of solemnly stated truisms, declares that with predictable connectivity “better conditions” open up for moving operations to the AIFA. That is, so that the transition is not a leap into the void, but rather a walk across a bridge… that is still in plans.
The jewel in the crown, the Buenavista-AIFA suburban train, is described as a “decisive step.” One step, just one. Because according to these visionaries, the train does not replace other minor details such as fare integration, signage, security or operational coordination. Unimportant things, of course. Why do we want the trip to be “truly frictionless” if we can have an adventure full of surprises and unexpected procedures? Of course, the president of the organization, Octavio de la Torre de Stéffano, assures with an optimism that a smoke seller would envy, that doing 45 minutes on that route with trains every 15 minutes will make it competitive. Because, evidently, what the international traveler craves is a railway experience “comparable to international standards” in the middle of the metropolitan area. No pretensions.
The train: magic solution or glorified patch?
They tell us, as if it were a state secret, that having this train is a “strategic success“. Take it now! It will reduce the uncertainty of the transfer because, attention to the argument, it will avoid traffic. A revelation that leaves you breathless. So the master plan to strengthen the mobility of an airport built in a controversial location is a train. It’s not a luxury, they preach to us, it’s “enabling infrastructure.” What makes an airport functional for the economy, apparently, is not flights, routes or airlines, but a punctual train. Because nothing says “economic power” like depending on a single transportation corridor so that your air terminal is not a white elephant.
The official narrative wants to sell us the idea of an efficient metropolitan airport system, where the AIFA is a key piece with “greater room for growth.” It sounds nice, like a campaign slogan. Reality, seasoned with the acid humor of the situation, suggests that the cart is being put before the horse, the train before the plane, and the promise before the finished work. Multimodal connectivity and feeders are requested, when the basic connection is still a matter of debate. It is like promising a botanical garden on land that does not yet have drinking water. The irony is so dense that the route to the airport itself could be paved with it.
Deep down, the business chamber’s message is an elegantly packaged cry: it is not enough to inaugurate pharaonic infrastructures with great fanfare; They must be provided with the transport and logistics network that makes them viable. Otherwise, the risk is creating an air connection node disconnected from the city it serves. The development of commercial aviation in the region requires more than good intentions and ribbon-cutting ceremonies; It requires urban and public transportation planning up to the challenge. Economic growth and Business tourism do not arrive magically on a train, no matter how punctual.
The moral? You can build the most modern airport in the world, but if you need a combination of faith, luck, and a treasure map to get there, the only ones who will use it will be crows and incurable optimists. The AIFA has potential, but it needs to stop being the recurring joke of metropolitan connectivity to become a real option. And that, dear planners, requires more than a train; requires a system.
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