Huge nationwide government/private sector investment in Mexican airports should bring some cohesion

Mexico was one of the first countries in the world where airports were privatised on an industrial scale, using what was then an innovative formula in which clusters of airports of various sizes were formed, with one particularly attractive 'anchor' airport.

That formula worked well, and has continued to do so through several ownership changes in the three main groups.

Separately, other airports are managed still by local or regional governments, by other private sector players, and even by entities that included defence establishments.

There was little sign of a cohesive centralised guiding light to all this, as Mexico City especially has had to cope with burgeoning traffic spread across three airports, when there could have been a brand new 'all-singing, all-dancing' one by now - had the partly-built new one not been terminated in 2018.

But now a plan has emerged to centralise large-scale spending through a fund involving the differing sectors, which should (in theory at least) benefit the entire ecosystem.