How Cancun’s Airport Group Ended Up Running the Shops at LAX and JFK
Key Facts
Mexican airport groups have spent years hunting for growth outside their own concessions. ASUR, the operator of Cancun, has collected the rent inside three big US airports since December 2025.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, the Mexican airport group known as ASUR, completed its takeover of URW Airports on 11 December 2025. The US$295 million deal handed it the retail and dining programmes at Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare and New York JFK.
Why This Matters
ASUR is one of the three listed groups that run Mexico’s privatised airports. It holds the concession for Cancun, the busiest international gateway in Latin America.
Until 2025 its business sat entirely in Mexico, Colombia and Puerto Rico. Buying URW Airports moved it into the largest aviation market in the world.
The purchase does not make ASUR the operator of any US airport. It makes the company the landlord and manager of the shops and restaurants inside selected terminals.
That distinction matters because commercial rent is unregulated revenue earned in dollars. Aeronautical charges in Mexico, by contrast, are capped by the federal transport ministry.
For investors in London or New York, the deal is a test of a familiar idea. Airport groups from emerging markets are trying to buy their way into rich-country cash flows.
For travellers, the practical change is the mix of brands on the concourse. ASUR says it wants commercial income per passenger above the American average.
What ASUR Actually Bought
URW Airports was the American airport arm of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the Franco-Dutch property group. ASUR announced the purchase in July 2025 and closed it on 11 December 2025, according to its own statements.
The enterprise value was US$295 million, paid from cash and a loan from JPMorgan Chase. ASUR’s Cancun subsidiary stood as guarantor for the group’s obligations, the company said.
At Los Angeles International the package covers Terminals 1, 2, 3 and 6. It also covers the Tom Bradley International Terminal and its western extension.
At Chicago O’Hare it covers Terminal 5, the airport’s international building. At New York JFK it covers Terminal 8 and the New Terminal One now under construction.
The renamed business trades as ASUR Airports, LLC and keeps its American management team. JPMorgan and Cleary Gottlieb advised ASUR, while RBC Capital Markets and Debevoise & Plimpton advised the seller.
ASUR’s first-quarter presentation put combined traffic at those terminals above 70 million customers a year. Chief executive Adolfo Castro told El CEO the platform should support further US purchases.
How an Airport Concession Actually Works
An airport concession is a contract to run a public asset for a fixed term. ASUR’s nine Mexican airports sit under 50-year titles granted in 1998, according to company filings.
Those titles carry a fee paid to the state on regulated income. Mexico raised that fee from 5% to 9% of regulated revenues from 2024, the group’s annual report says.
In Puerto Rico ASUR holds 60% of Aerostar, which leased San Juan airport for 40 years from 2013. In Colombia it controls Airplan and Aeropuertos de Oriente, which run airports around Medellin and the Caribbean coast.
The American contracts are different in kind, because they cover commercial space rather than the airfield. The counterparty is the airport authority or the terminal operator, not a national regulator.
Where It Fits in the Portfolio
Cancun remains the centre of gravity of the whole company. It produced 58.4% of 2025 revenue, or Ps.21.74 billion (about US$1.23 billion), the annual report states.
That concentration is the risk the group has spent two years trying to dilute. The American deal was the first step and the Brazilian one was the second.
On 1 September 2026 ASUR closed its purchase of Motiva’s stake in Companhia de Participacoes em Concessoes. That transaction cost R$5.1 billion (about US$992.2 million on ASUR’s figures) and added 20 airports.
They sit in Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Curacao, taking the group from 16 airports to 36. The Rio Times covered that closing at the start of September.
Total debt stood at US$1.53 billion at the end of 2025, the annual report shows. About US$1.03 billion of that carried floating interest rates.
How Investors Have Responded
The market reaction has been split rather than uniformly warm. ASUR’s New York-listed shares rose 2.33% on 2 September, the session after the Brazilian deal closed, StockTitan reported.
By 25 September those shares traded at US$243.21, up 2.1% on the day, according to market data from StockAnalysis. That is close to the 52-week low of US$235.79 and far below the high of US$381.52.
Market value stood near US$7.29 billion, roughly 29% lower than a year earlier. The dividend yield on that price was 8.16%, or US$19.85 a share, StockAnalysis records.
Analyst opinion has moved in both directions over the past year. Itau BBA and Morgan Stanley cut their ratings, while HSBC and UBS raised theirs, StockAnalysis records.
The consensus target price of US$335.22 still sits well above the traded price. El Cronista noted in April that Colombia and the United States were carrying results while Mexican traffic weakened.
The Numbers Behind the American Unit
The US business began reporting in the first quarter of 2026, its first full quarter. It billed Ps.438 million (about US$24.8 million) and lost Ps.50 million (about US$2.8 million) at the EBITDA line.
In the second quarter it billed Ps.443.8 million (about US$25.2 million), the company reported on 23 July 2026. Peso figures are converted at the Banco de Mexico FIX rate of 17.6425 pesos to the dollar on 25 September 2026.
Group revenue for that quarter reached Ps.9.58 billion (about US$543.0 million), up 9.9% on the year. Group EBITDA fell 8.7% to Ps.4.59 billion (about US$260.2 million) over the same period.
The adjusted EBITDA margin narrowed to 62.0% from 67.6%, largely because the American business is thin. On the July earnings call management put the US margin at about 9%.
Commercial revenue per passenger across the group rose 12.6% to Ps.153.0 (about US$8.67). Passenger numbers fell 5.0% in Mexico and 3.5% in Puerto Rico, while Colombia gained 3.6%.
What It Means If You Fly or Hold the Stock
If you pass through Terminal 8 at JFK, you are already walking through the result. ASUR finished a US$125 million commercial rebuild there on 21 April 2026 with more than 60 new outlets.
Eataly, Neir’s Tavern and the wellness brand BKLYN Blend have opened in the terminal this year. If you hold the shares, the question is whether dollar rent offsets weaker Mexican traffic.
The group is carrying more debt and thinner margins than at any point in recent years. It is also more exposed to American policy, because US visitors drive traffic in Cancun as well.
The annual report warns tighter US immigration rules could stop Mexican and Colombian citizens travelling north. For Mexican passengers the higher concession fee is a reminder that regulated income is political.
What Is Not Yet Known
ASUR has not published the expiry dates of the individual American concession contracts. It has not said what return it expects from the US$295 million it paid.
The opening of the New Terminal One at JFK has slipped to the first quarter of 2027. Published passenger counts for the terminals differ between company documents and Mexican press reports.
Management says debt can fund both commitments, but has not published the resulting leverage. Whether the dividend survives beyond the two extraordinary payments announced for late 2026 is unclear.
More: Mexico news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did ASUR buy three American airports?
No. It bought the right to run the shops, restaurants and duty-free areas inside selected terminals at LAX, O’Hare and JFK.
How much did the deal cost?
The enterprise value was US$295 million, funded with cash and a loan from JPMorgan Chase. ASUR’s Cancun subsidiary guaranteed the group’s obligations.
Is the American business profitable?
Not yet in any meaningful way. It lost money at the EBITDA line in the first quarter of 2026 and runs on a margin of about 9%.
How large is ASUR after the Brazilian purchase?
The group now holds interests in 36 airports across the Americas. It had 16 before the Motiva transaction closed on 1 September 2026.
Sources: ASUR statement on completing the URW Airports purchase, ASUR statement announcing the deal and its terms, StockTitan, second-quarter 2026 results, StockTitan, closing of the Motiva transaction and share reaction, Investing.com, first-quarter 2026 presentation and US entry, Investing.com, second-quarter 2026 earnings call, StockTitan summary of ASUR’s annual report, El CEO, ASUR’s concession model in the United States, El Cronista, Colombia and the United States support results, StockAnalysis, share price, market value and analyst moves, ASUR Airports, terminal openings and new outlets
In depth
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. The Rio Times also runs Ask Rio Times, which answers from 100,000+ of our own articles, the daily Latin America Power Map, and prediction-market odds on elections and markets.. How we use AI · Report an error
LatAm Markets: Live Signals → — real-time movers, turnover leaders and FX across Latin America.
Living in or visiting Cancún? See this month's events and our Cancún city guide with rents, safety and upcoming concerts.