Mexican president says airport serving capital to operate by 2021

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said construction on an airport north of Mexico City will begin on Thursday and the site will open by 2021, despite a slew of legal hurdles that have slowed work on the project.

The airport, a military base in Santa Lucia to be converted into a commercial airport, is meant to replace a part-built $13 billion airport that Lopez Obrador canceled, calling it costly, geologically unsound and riddled with corruption.