Guadalajara International Airport
Facts on GDL
The airport was inaugurated on March 1, 1951 by Mexican President Miguel Alemán Valdés, opening with two asphalt runways, an apron, and a small passenger terminal.
Source: Wikipedia
The airport is named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753–1811), who was a Catholic priest and the leading figure of the Mexican War of Independence, remembered as the 'Father of the Nation' for his September 16, 1810 'Cry of Dolores,' which called on Mexicans to rise up against colonial rule.
Source: Wikipedia
Guadalajara's airport opened in 1951 under a plainer name, but was reinaugurated as Miguel Hidalgo International Airport in 1968 alongside a runway extension that let it handle wide-body jets; it is still officially the Aeropuerto Internacional Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla today.
Source: Wikipedia
Operations were briefly suspended in 1966 after inspectors from the Mexican pilots' union raised safety concerns; airlines were temporarily rerouted to Zapopan Air Force Base while the field was repaired, and by 1968 the runway had been rebuilt and extended to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).
Source: Wikipedia
Sitting at 1,529 metres (5,016 ft) above sea level, Guadalajara now runs two parallel runways — 4,000 metres and 3,538 metres — after the second one opened in July 2023 to allow segregated arrival and departure operations of up to 60 movements an hour.
Source: Wikipedia
Guadalajara is Volaris's largest hub and main gateway to the United States, also serving as a base for Viva and a focus city for Aeroméxico; the airport handled 17.8 million passengers in 2024 and 18.7 million in 2025, ranking third-busiest in Mexico.
Source: Wikipedia
On May 24, 1993, a gunfight between rival cartel gunmen in the airport's parking lot left seven people dead, including Catholic Archbishop Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo — one of Mexico's most notorious unsolved killings.
Source: Wikipedia
In December 2021, Aeroméxico launched Guadalajara's first-ever nonstop flight to Europe: a Boeing 787 service to Madrid.
Source: Wikipedia