Vinci Airports is gearing up to add 13 airports in northern and central Mexico, including Monterrey, Chihuahua and Acapulco, to its growing portfolio after agreeing to buy 29.99% of airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA).

Together the airports handled 23 million passengers before the pandemic in 2019. In 2021, the figure was 18 million but Vinci said passenger numbers in the Americas have already exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter of 2022.

Vinci’s projected concession period lasts until 2048. Financial close of the deal is expected by the end of 2022, by which point Vinci Airports’ network will include some 70 airports in 13 countries.

Monterrey International, serving Mexico’s industrial capital, is the country’s fifth-largest airport, accounting for nearly half of OMA’s passenger numbers.

Added to this are Chihuahua International and Ciudad Juárez International airports, which are at the heart of Mexico’s mining sector, Culiacán International and Mazatlán International airports, as well as eight regional and tourism airports on the Pacific coast and in central Mexico: Acapulco, San Luis Potosí, Torreón, Zihuatanejo, Durango, Zacatecas, Tampico and Reynosa.

At the beginning of this year, Vinci took over seven airports in Brazil, making it that country’s biggest operator, and last month it acquired seven airports in Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa.