Airport Name and ICAO/IATA Code
Felipe Angeles International Airport (also known as Mexico City - AIFA)
IATA: NLU / ICAO: MMSMOpened in 2022 (Mar. 21) for commercial services
(Originally operated as an Air Force Base, since 1952, as Santa Lucia Air Force Base)
Location (City, Country)
Santa Lucia, Zumpango, Mexico, North America ()
Airport Type & Size
NLU is a mid-size international airport meant to complement the older Mexico City Airport / MEX, working with it and a third airport, Toluca International / TLC, to break down current congestion challenges and constraints that have challenged MEX.
As for NLU’s annual passengers, the airport served just over 7 million in 2025, making it the 7th busiest in Mexico, and one of the fastest growing; more specifically with a passenger growth of over 11%, compared to the previous year, 2024. It is also the busiest airport in the country when it comes to cargo traffic.The airport has three parallel runways, designated 04L/22R, 04C/22C, and 04R/22L.
All runways have a listed width of 45 meters (148ft).
Starting with 04L/22R and 04C/22C, they are both 4,500m (14,764ft) long. This makes 04L/22R and 04C/22C some of the longest runways in North America, behind only a few airports such as Denver and Las Vegas.
As for 04R/22L, it is the shortest (3,500m / 11,483 ft) and southernmost runway, though it appears to be intended exclusively for military use, directly serving the original Air Force Base.Now, as mentioned above, the airport’s current state is capable of processing several millions of passengers annually; when it comes to the gate count, I was able to determine that there are 62 positions for terminal parking, and 25 gates for cargo parking in total. Do note that this accounts for MARS stand positions, both narrowbody and widebody positions, which do overlap.
More specifics about parking positions
If you’re curious as to the exact values for the airport’s narrowbody/widebody aircraft capacity, they are as follows:
There are 45 narrowbody passenger parking positions, though with both widebody and narrowbody aircraft accounted for, the maximum capacity is 17 widebody aircraft and 11 narrowbody aircraft.
As for cargo aircraft, there are 16 narrowbody cargo parking positions, though there are 9 widebody cargo gates - however, if all are occupied, the widebody aircraft positions also seem to occupy the narrowbody positions.When it comes to the future, the airport runs with several current goals and expansion plans designated as “phases”; the airport has three of these ‘phases’ set up as far out as 2052, with Phase 1’s goal being to reach 20 million passengers served annually by 2032.
A notable part of such expansion plans is the addition of a second concourse for the terminal, directly mirroring the current existing concourse, this time facing the northern runway (04L/22R). This part of the expansion plan is listed as being part of Phase 2, which is targeted for the 2032 - 2042 timeframe.
As for the final phase, Phase 3, it is targeting 2042 - 2052, and that calls to expand the current facilities and terminal(s) - though I’m unsure of any specifics about that, or if any exist currently.
(Renders of the future expansion plans will be provided below for reference.)
Why should this airport be added to World of Airports?
I believe that this airport should be added because it’s a great modest and modern airport for Mexico - a region of North America that has yet to be explored - with quite a nice scale, architecture and notable future plans for expansion; said plans could also be implemented in-game to further add appeal, especially given that WoA has previously implemented future plans for a few airports (see HKG’s Terminal 2, ZRH’s new Dock A).While it is a much newer airport, and one that isn’t as busy compared to the likes of MEX in terms of passenger traffic, all cargo operations were notably ordered to transition from MEX to NLU, making it currently the busiest airport in Mexico for cargo traffic, as established above, even in spite of the airport’s current scale. The airport also has a storied history, originally seeing use as an Air Force Base with history running back to the 1950s, making the current airport a very interesting “hybrid” airport of sorts.
All in all, it would be an awesome addition, having a unique balance of passenger and cargo operations and traffic, from the standard A320s, E190s and 737s, to some other rarer types, such as A340s, 747Fs, 757s (both passenger and cargo), 777Fs, and so on, and could even allow for some unique easter eggs or additional scenery with the Air Force Base part of the airport.
All of this is paired with the fact that the airport is in the mid-size range with still-developing infrastructure and plans for the future, in turn making it an ambitious, notable airport, and I’d say it would definitely be a stand-out if implemented.
Major Airlines & Routes
Major operators are as follows (in order of each airline’s relevance at the airport):Avianca Cargo Mexico / AeroUnion, Awesome Cargo, Mexicana de Aviacion (2023), mas / Mas Air - hub at NLU
Viva - operating base at NLU
Aeromexico Connect - designated NLU as focus cityOther airlines involve Aeromexico, Aerus, Arajet, Conviasa, and Volaris for passenger operations, and Air Canada Cargo, Atlas Air Cargo, Emirates SkyCargo, MSC Air Cargo, and UPS Airlines for cargo operations.
Unique Features or Challenges
When it comes to both features and challenges, there are quite a few that come to mind with this airport.First, the airlines. As stated above, being a diverse airport, quite a few airlines have their hubs and/or bases at the airport, and as such, could appear as locals - this is referring to airlines such as Awesome Cargo, Avianca Cargo Mexico (or AeroUnion), mas/Mas Air, Mexicana (2023), and Viva, which I think is a great lineup of airlines to start out the airport with.
Next up, the layout. Compared to MEX, the airport has a far more efficient configuration - two parallel runways distanced away from each other, thus making the gameplay akin to something like, for example, LEJ or SCL. However, the possible limited number of gates (dependent on the version of the airport implemented), paired with the notably large emphasis on cargo traffic, would possibly lead to some crew shortage or gate availability challenges, especially in the context of the cargo flights.
(Of course, there also is the Air Force Base segment, and I can presume there would be some confusion about the third runway being inoperable or unusable for commercial operations, but to be honest - I don’t envision that really taking away from the airport, it’s still quite efficient even with just two runways. I could see a little notice being added in the airport’s information, maybe?)
On the flip side, something I can see being a challenge is the taxi times. The airport is quite spacious in its current state, and has lots of room to expand, but in its current configuration - and what will possibly remain its configuration for some time into the future - there is still a lot of vacant room, hence making for long taxi times.
And finally, the weather conditions. If you recall the rather long runway lengths for the airport, that’s because this airport is a “hot and high” airport, located over a mile above sea level (2,246m / 7,369ft). I mention this because if this airport is added, I think something like longer takeoff/landing distances would be great attention to detail. This could also apply to any potential “hot and high” airports in general, though otherwise, I figured I should point this out to better provide context for the airport’s notably long runways.
Optional: Links, images, maps, or videos
SOURCES:
NLU’s Wikipedia Page
NLU’s Navigraph Page
Airliners.net Database of NLU Photos
Planespotting/General Traffic at NLUMEDIA SOURCES:
(Pictured below: A general diagram of NLU)(Pictured below: A Google Earth overview of NLU)
(Pictured below: The Air Traffic Control tower, with the airport in the background)
(Note those two 767s. Maybe there can be some other combined stands for more cargo capacity?)
(Pictured below: Some pictures of the airport terminal)
(Pictured below: Some examples of passenger traffic at the airport)
(Pictured below: Some examples of cargo traffic at the airport)
(Pictured below: Future expansion renders of the airport)
(Pictured below: Bonus pictures)
(I’ve had this as a draft since June, but I was stumped on it for a good while honestly; either way, now that it’s here, thank you for checking this suggestion out - I might make more airport suggestions soon, I’ll have to see
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