Puebla International Airport, officially Hermanos Serdán International Airport (IATA: PBC, ICAO: MMPB).
The airport was named for Aquiles Serdán, Máximo Serdán and María del Carmen Serdán, known as the Serdán brothers, leaders of the revolutionary Maderista anti-reelectionism.
The airport located in the municipalities of Tlaltenango, Huejotzingo and Juan C. Bonilla near Puebla City. It handles national and international air traffic for the city of Puebla.
It also serves as an alternate airport for Mexico City, being part of the metropolitan airport group for the Mexican capital, comprising the airports of Mexico City, Toluca, Cuernavaca, and Querétaro. The airport used to be a hub for Puebla Air Lines before it ceased operations in 1995.
The airport was inaugurated on 18 November 1985 and since 2001, was given in concession to Operadora Estatal de Aeropuertos (OEA) for operation and development. OEA is a company founded specifically to manage and carry out investments to extend airport facilities. It handles air traffic in the city of Puebla and is part of the Metropolitan Airport System.
On January 23, 1996, the Puebla Airport, which was a national aerodrome, was named the “Hermanos Serdán” International Airport, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation.
In 2003, the US Trade and Development Agency (TDA) provided a grant for US $550,000 to OEA to enable the completion of a project feasibility study regarding the upgrade of the Puebla International Airport.
On October 27, 2009, MexicanaLink opened connecting flights from Puebla to Las Vegas, New York, and Los Angeles. However, on August 28, 2010, and with the cessation of operations of Mexicana de Aviación and its subsidiaries, MexicanaLink stopped offering services at this airport.
On November 29, 2011, the government of the state of Puebla dissolved the State Airport Operator due to anomalies in its budget, leaving Airports and Auxiliary Services in charge of operating the airport.
OEA subsequently retained the services of The Louis Berger Group Inc. from the US to complete the study, which concludes that in the long term the airport might serve up to 15 million passengers annually considering that Puebla constitutes the fourth largest city in Mexico in terms of population.
During the period 2015-2016, Copa Airlines operated at the airport with flights to Panama City, however, the route was canceled due to the low influx of passengers on that route.
On October 19, 2020, the Government of the State of Puebla announced the incorporation of the Mexican airline Interjet to operate two international routes, with service to Houston and New York, and a domestic route with service to Acapulco.
The new routes would begin to operate in the first quarter of 2021 with a frequency of two weekly flights, however, due to the indefinite suspension of operations of the airline decreed in December 2020, as a result of a set of financial and legal problems, coupled with the impact of the pandemic of COVID-19 in aviation, the new routes did not materialize.
Airport development information
In recent years, the Puebla International Airport has shown notable growth in passenger volume, operations, and freight. In 2007 the Logistic Airport Center was opened offering all the facilities for the managing and commercial processing of cargo.
Presently, the airport has reached historical levels in its operative indicators. This situation has permitted members of the Board of Directors to support the decision to begin immediate actions to increase the capacity of the airport in the areas of the platform and the Passenger Terminal Building as well.
Puebla International Airport is one of the fastest-growing airports in the country, Puebla air terminal served 761,575 passengers in 2019.
To arrive at Puebla International Airport from Puebla City by car or taxi will take only 30 minutes.
At the moment, the airport is equipped with a 6 position platform of category D and a terminal building with the capacity to take care of 450 passengers per hour.
The new terminal building will be roughly 226% larger than the current one. By investing over USD $15 million, it will be possible to serve 1.1 million passengers in one year. This amount might be even higher assuming a proper air operation distribution.
This airport handles two thousand tons a year in textile products, vehicle motor parts, machinery, post pieces, airborne parcels service, and perishables such as fruits and flowers.
An airport lounge at this airport is operated by Global Lounge Network.
The airport has been closed several times due to volcanic ash from the Popocatépetl volcano.
