Guatemala City’s 8.6km AeroMetro Cable Car Breaks Ground
Transport: Guatemala City
Key Facts
—Project. Austria’s Doppelmayr Group will build the “AeroMetro”, an urban cable-car system linking Guatemala City with the neighbouring municipality of Mixco.
—Scope. The network has two lines totalling 8.6 kilometres, 12 stations and 495 cabins, each carrying up to 12 passengers.
—Capacity. The detachable gondolas are designed to move 5,500 passengers per hour, per direction, on each line, running 17 hours a day.
—Timeline. Construction began in January 2026, with the two lines due to be completed in 2028.
—Model. The system is a fully electric, privately financed 25-year concession, with Doppelmayr responsible for design, construction and operation.
Austria’s Doppelmayr will build the AeroMetro cable car linking Guatemala City and Mixco, a two-line, 8.6-kilometre network of 12 stations designed to move thousands of commuters an hour by 2028.
Doppelmayr to Build Guatemala City’s AeroMetro
The Doppelmayr Group, an Austrian cable-car manufacturer, confirmed it will build the AeroMetro, an urban aerial-cable transit system for Guatemala City and the adjoining municipality of Mixco to the north-west. The project is designed to extend public transport across the metropolitan area and ease daily commuting between dense residential districts and economic, education and health hubs.
The system is being delivered under a concession, with Doppelmayr responsible for the design, construction and 25-year operation of the network as part of the winning consortium. The municipalities of Guatemala and Mixco act as regulators, overseeing fares, permits and coordination with other transport.
Konstantinos Panagiotou, who heads Doppelmayr’s Mexico and Guatemala operations, said the company expects the AeroMetro to become the highest-capacity urban cable car in the world.
Two Lines, 8.6 Kilometres, Twelve Stations
The network comprises two lines with a combined length of 8.6 kilometres. Line 1 runs 2.1 kilometres with four stations and 135 cabins; Line 2 is 6.5 kilometres long with eight stations and 360 cabins. In total there are 12 stations and 495 cabins, each with room for 12 passengers.
The detachable gondolas are engineered to carry 5,500 passengers per hour in each direction on each line, moving at 6.5 metres per second, with a cabin arriving roughly every six seconds. The operator plans to run the service 17 hours a day, 360 days a year.
Fares are expected to be set between four and six Guatemalan quetzals (about US$0.50 to US$0.80), positioning the cable car as an affordable link within the wider transport network.
A Privately Financed 25-Year Concession
The AeroMetro is structured as a privately financed concession rather than a directly operated public service. The city of Guatemala promoted the project, but the concessionaire builds and runs it, while public bodies regulate. Reported investment figures have ranged from about US$155 million to more than US$200 million.
Company representatives have said the construction will not permanently remove traffic lanes on major arteries such as the Roosevelt causeway, with work concentrated on towers and stations. They also stressed the system is meant to complement, not replace, buses, bus rapid transit and any future metro.
On the environmental side, the build requires the removal of 721 trees, to be offset through a reforestation plan; Guatemala’s environment ministry granted the project’s environmental licence in August 2025 after technical revisions.
Cutting a Two-Hour Commute to Half an Hour
A central goal is faster travel at peak times. For commuters between Mixco and Guatemala City, journeys that can take up to two hours in heavy traffic are projected to fall to about 32 minutes on the cable car.
The route is designed to be step-free and integrated with the city’s existing bus rapid transit, and to reach areas poorly served by conventional infrastructure, including a hospital and connections toward the airport. Backers argue that linking homes directly to jobs, schools and services will make daily trips more predictable.
The system will run entirely on electricity, which the company says sharply reduces emissions compared with other modes and supports a more sustainable urban mobility model.
Urban Cable Cars Across Latin America
Guatemala’s project joins a broader Latin American trend. Since Medellín’s Metrocable opened in 2004 as the region’s first urban cable-car system, the technology has spread to Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela. About 65 kilometres of urban cable-car lines are in operation across the region, with a further 50 kilometres under construction.
The appeal is topographic and social: aerial cable cars can climb steep, densely populated hillsides that are hard to serve with roads or rail, connecting neighbourhoods to city centres. Doppelmayr already runs the Cablebús in Mexico City and is building an extension there billed as the world’s longest.
If it meets its 2028 target, the AeroMetro would give Guatemala City a high-capacity, low-emission spine linking two of the metropolitan area’s busiest municipalities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is building Guatemala City’s AeroMetro cable car?
Austria’s Doppelmayr Group is building the AeroMetro as part of a concession consortium, responsible for the design, construction and 25-year operation of the system linking Guatemala City and Mixco.
How big is the AeroMetro and when will it open?
The network has two lines totalling 8.6 kilometres, 12 stations and 495 cabins. Construction began in January 2026 and the lines are due to be completed in 2028.
How many passengers will the AeroMetro carry?
Each line is designed to move 5,500 passengers per hour, per direction, with cabins holding 12 people each and arriving about every six seconds, running 17 hours a day.
Sources
Doppelmayr (RegioTrans) · Prensa Libre · latina-press · BNamericas
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Sources: Doppelmayr via RegioTrans; Prensa Libre; latina-press; BNamericas.
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