In 2013, ex-Secretary of Economic Development of San Luis Potosi, Fernando Macías Morales said the Lufthansa Cargo Company had conducted a large study in San Luis Potosi in order to establish a new operation center at the “Ponciano Arriaga” International Airport. Because, that company saw an enormous potential in this location to become a strategic point of Air Cargo.
For that matter, it was necessary to extend the airport’s runway, in order for the German company to be able to operate properly.
Lufthansa initially considered to settle in San Luis Potosi. However, after an approach between Queretaro government officials and high executives of the German firm, the decision was taken to establish its operational center at Querétaro Intercontinental Airport, according to a Lufthansa spokesperson.
Mexican newspaper El Financiero published that in the last year Queretaro Intercontinental airport had an increase of at least 11.4 percent, regarding air cargo.
Currently, the Queretaro airport is managing more than 15 thousand tons per day, which is why the German company decided to offer its services starting November 2016 in that airport.
The previous state administration of San Luis Potosi stated: “The track of the San Luis airport needed to expand, aiming to receive aircrafts between 90 and 120 tons of cargo.”
At the time, the San Luis Potosi state government reported that, according to studies of Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Logistics, if the airstrip would be expanded, the cargo capacity would immediately increase from 30 thousand tons to around 90 thousand per month. However, more than three years later, the size of the landing strip is the same, and it is still not able to host these size of aircrafts.
Finally, other air companies such as Fedex UPS, KLM, Cargolux and Lufhtansa Cargo were interested to invest in the San Luis Potosi airport, but the State Government did not agree with the terms and conditions, and therefore, did not cooperate with these international companies that finally settled down in Queretaro instead.
Source: http://lajornadasanluis.com.mx/