Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Guadalajara International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de Guadalajara Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla) or simply Guadalajara International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de Guadalajara) , is the main airport of

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

, Mexico's third-largest city. Opened in 1966, it is located 16 km south of the city center. In 2020 it handled 8,094,115 passengers, and 12,243,000 in 2021. It is

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

's sixth and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

's third-busiest airport, after

Mexico City International Airport Mexico City International Airport ( es, link=yes, Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México, AICM); officially ''Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez'' (Benito Juárez International Airport) is the main international airport serving ...

and

Cancún International Airport Cancun International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de Cancún) is located in Cancún, Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It is Latin America's third and Mexico's second busiest airport, after Mexico Ci ...

, and second-busiest for cargo flights. Guadalajara's International Airport consists of two runways and one terminal. A major airport for connections, it became a hub for

Volaris Volaris, legally ''Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación S.A.P.I. de C.V.'', is a Mexican low-cost airline based in Santa Fe (Mexico City), Santa Fe, Álvaro Obregón, D.F., Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City l-888-Ʒ9Ʒ-I394 with its hubs in M ...

and its primary gateway to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is also a focus city for Aeroméxico and VivaAerobus. Flights are offered to destinations within Mexico and to

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, the United States and Spain. In addition, cargo flights are offered to many destinations, including countries in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The airport is named for

Miguel Hidalgo Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor (8 May 1753 – 30 July 1811), more commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or Miguel Hidalgo (), was a Catholic priest, leader of the Mexican Wa ...

, who began the war that brought Mexican independence from Spain. He has been called the "father of Mexican independence".

History

It was inaugurated on 1 March 1951 by then-president of Mexico, Miguel Alemán Valdés, and the governor of the state of Jalisco, José de Jesús González Gallo. On May 24, 1993 the airport parking lot was the scene of a deadly firefight between the

Logan Heights Gang The Logan Heights Gang, also known as Varrio Logan Heights or LH, is a Sureño street gang based in Southeast San Diego. History The Logan Heights Gang was established in Southeast San Diego, when several individual Mexican-American street gang ...

working for the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel. Seven people were killed including Catholic Archbishop Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo. In 2020, it was announced that the Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico group have invested around $14 billion

peso The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the Dollar sign, same sign, "$", as many currencies na ...

s to build a new runway and terminal building, along with new facilities and improvements such as an expanded parking lot, a hotel, office block, and a solar-powered plant. Additionally, the airport aims to expand services to the

as well as

. Expected to be completed by 2024, it is part of GAP's new expansion plan for its airports in the state of

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal En ...

, both

and

Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadala ...

, and its total budget is $18 billion pesos. The Guadalajara airport gained a nonstop link to Europe when Aeroméxico introduced flights to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain, in December 2021.

Terminals

Passenger terminal

The Passenger Terminal or Terminal 1, is used by all airlines for international and domestic flights. The terminal has customs facilities. There are also 27 remote parking positions. It also has 12 jetways and 4 concourses: *Concourse A - Airside Walk-up gates A1 through A8 *Concourse B - Jetway gates B10 through B13 *Concourse C - Jetway gates C30 through C37 *Concourse D - Lower level, Bus gates D40 through D50

Cargo terminal

The Cargo Terminal was recently expanded and has a capacity to store approximately 350,000 tons of goods annually in its 27,000 square meters. It has 6 positions that can handle any kind of major aircraft. Aeropuerto de Guadalajara 8

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Amenities

Restaurants

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

* California Pizza Kitchen *

Carl's Jr. Carl's Jr. Restaurants LLC is an American fast food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc., with franchisees in North & South America, Asia, Oceania, Europe and Africa. In 2016, ''Entrepreneur'' listed Carl's Jr. as No. 54 ...

Chili's Chili's Grill & Bar is an American casual dining restaurant chain. The company was founded by Larry Lavine in Texas in 1975 and is currently owned and operated by Brinker International. History Chili's first location, a converted postal statio ...

* Corner Bar * De Volada Grab N' Go * El Quijote * Fronteras Bar * Guacamole Mexican Grill *

Johnny Rockets } The Johnny Rockets Group Inc. is an American restaurant franchise whose themed decor is based upon 1950s diner-style restaurants. Décor includes Coca-Cola advertising, featuring nearly life-size cardboard illustrations of women in World War II ...

* Krispy Kreme * La Pausa * Los Tres Amigos Tacos * Medas * Natural Break * Sbarro *

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

Subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Interconti ...

* Wings

Car rental

* Avis
Enterprise
* Hertz
Veico Car Rental

City Car Rental

Mex Rent A Car

Hotels

* City Express Guadalajara Aeropuerto * Hampton Inn de Hilton Guadalajara-Aeropuerto
Hangar Inn

VIP Lounges

* Aeroméxico ''Salón Premier'' * Citibanamex ''Salón Beyond'' * VIP Lounge East * VIP Lounge West

Statistics

Passengers

Busiest routes

;Notes:

Local conflicts

Recently, the expansion projects are being delayed due to conflicts with the local residents. Also, several protests were made, blocking the parking lot access many times. These expansion projects include new and better access to the terminal, and it would take 3 years to build a 2nd runway (includes 2 years of land preparation and 1 to build the base and pave it). The locals argue that Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico has debts to the land where the airport sits on because of expropriation of land, which was taken from locals in 1975 to expand the airport. This terrain consists of the airport's polygon plus 320 hectares — of which 51 hectares will be used to build the 2nd runway. Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico urged the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation to resolve the problems by delaying the airport's 2nd runway construction. With this new runway and the expansion of the terminal building, the airport will be able to handle over 40 million passengers. If not negotiated the next step could be another expropriation to complete the project.

Accidents and incidents

* On June 2, 1958, Aeronaves de México Flight 111, a Lockheed L-749A Constellation (registration XA-MEV), crashed into La Latilla Mountain, 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the airport, shortly after takeoff for a flight to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, after the airliner's crew failed to follow the established climb-out procedure for the airport after taking off. The crash killed all 45 people on board, and two prominent American scientists – oceanographer Townsend Cromwell and

fisheries scientist Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of limnology, oceanography, freshwater biology, marine biology, meteorology, conservation, ...

Bell M. Shimada – were among the dead. It was the deadliest aviation accident in Mexican history at the time. * Aeroméxico Flight 498: On August 31, 1986 an Aeroméxico DC-9 that originated from Mexico City and stopped at Guadalajara, Loreto and Tijuana collided with a private aircraft while attempting to land at

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

. * On May 24, 1993, Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo, the Archbishop of Guadalajara, and six other people were killed in a shootout between rival drug cartels in the airport parking lot.

References

External links

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico

AeropuertosMexico.com (in English)
* ''FlightAware'' U.S. airport activity to/from
Don Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla Int'l (MMGL)
* ''A-Z World Airports''

TAR Aerolineas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Don Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla International Airport Airports in Jalisco

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...