ASUR expands Cozumel airport to capture surging Caribbean tourism
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste is spending over 400 million pesos to nearly double Cozumel Airport's passenger capacity, a strategic move to capture surging regional tourism traffic backed by a broader $1.6 billion network expansion plan.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR) has begun a multi-year expansion of Cozumel International Airport that will nearly double its passenger capacity and accommodate larger narrow-body jets. The project represents a targeted capital deployment to capture a nearly 39% surge in passenger traffic, which reached 77,678 passengers between January and September compared to the same period in 2023.
The operator is investing 354 million pesos (about $18 million) to expand the terminal from 14,000 to nearly 17,000 square meters. A parallel 58 million peso (about $3 million) investment will upgrade the commercial apron. By July 2026, terminal construction was 65% complete, with the new passenger space expected to be fully operational by 2027. A separate 1.6-hectare site for a rental-vehicle building and Fire and Rescue Corps facility is slated for completion in December 2026.
Targeting Higher-Traffic Corridors
The apron expansion adds eight new boarding gates and two positions for Category C aircraft, including the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families, a phase expected to create 127 jobs. ASUR spokesperson Adolfo Castro noted the terminal upgrade will add check-in desks and expand waiting areas to process passengers more efficiently during peak Caribbean travel windows.
Airport administrator Pablo Esteban Arjona Ortiz projected that daily flights could climb to 17 on Saturdays, up from a current average of five. The airport recently handled 72 private flights from Colombia, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic, and officials are preparing the infrastructure to support longer-range European routes by 2027.
A Node in a Larger Capex Plan
The Cozumel upgrade is a component of ASUR’s 30,616 million peso (roughly $1.6 billion) 2024–2028 Master Development Plan. The network-wide modernization effort, spanning Mexico, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, is backed by a 9.5 billion peso (roughly $500 million) revolving credit facility from BBVA México.
For market participants, the infrastructure spend addresses a physical bottleneck in a high-demand tourism market. Cozumel welcomed over 4 million cruise passengers in 2022, placing significant strain on its aviation facilities. Building out a secondary access point relieves capacity limits on ASUR’s saturated Cancún hub and supports property values in the Riviera Maya by sustaining year-round visitor flows.
ASUR’s net income increased to 10.5 billion pesos in 2025, up from 10.2 billion pesos in 2023. Translating that earnings growth into physical capacity allows the airport operator to lock in a larger share of Caribbean aviation traffic before competing regional destinations can capture it.
