The MZT AeroSpace Park is part of the TMEC Corridor, a logistics megaproject in which more than USD$3 billion will be invested and which will take approximately 15 years to develop. This innovative infrastructure will make Mazatlán, Sinaloa, the most important seaport in Mexico and the second largest in Latin America.
Located in northern Sinaloa, Mexico, MZT AeroSpace Park's mission is to provide a modern, high-tech infrastructure for international and domestic companies, as well as the vision of becoming the leading aerospace industrial complex with a private, mixed-use airfield in Latin America.
TopBrain Group, investor, and developer of the project, expects that 80 percent of the companies that will be installed in this industrial park will be international and will have important commercial connections with the Asian market and with the countries that are part of the USMCA.
Multinationals are looking for a safe place to locate their manufacturing facilities with high technology and quality services, and that is exactly what we are building in the park."
Lino Suárez Guzmán, co-founder of TopBrain Group.
"Precisely the TMEC Corridor megaproject of Grupo Caxxor is in charge of the rail and maritime part of the project, in addition to the fact that Mexico already has the land routes to transport goods by truck, however, a factor was missing to be a great multimodal: air infrastructure. That is where we make sense in this project to which we are going to add a three-kilometer runway, which will allow the arrival of transatlantic aircraft", says Mr. Lino Suárez Guzmán, co-founder of TopBrain Group and president of the Mazatlán Chapter of the Sinaloa Aerospace Cluster.
MZT AeroSpace Park, a pioneer in the aerospace industry in Sinaloa, foresees an investment of USD$50 million in its two phases. "TopBrain is the company that created the engineering and design of the aerospace park, in addition to making the investment for its construction. However, the runway entails a larger investment that could reach USD$200 million, since it requires platforms, control tower, communications equipment, among other infrastructure. That is why we have set aside the investment in the aerospace park and are working on finding the right strategic partners to join the runway project," declares Mr. Suárez Guzmán.
He mentions that in addition to allowing the arrival of transatlantic flights, the objective is that from the private airfield of MZT AeroSpace Park imports and exports can be carried out, and Grupo Caxxor's logistics centers can operate close to the port of Mazatlán, which will allow containers and goods to be unloaded to a safe area such as the aerospace park.
He also highlights that through MZT AeroSpace Park they will be able to bring advanced manufacturing equipment to Mexico, as well as more and better jobs linked to the technology sector, of a higher level and with better paid salaries. "It is an integral and social welfare that contributes to improving the environment in a very significant way because we are looking to bring manufacturing and not finished products. We need to create more products that are marketed in Mexico and that will be ready for export. Multinationals are looking for a safe place to locate their manufacturing facilities with high technology and quality services, and that is exactly what we are building in the park."
It is worth mentioning that the Aeronautical University in Querétaro (UNAQ) will open a campus in MZT Aerospace Park and they are also in talks with universities in the State of Sinaloa and those belonging to the Baja California Aerospace Cluster to be part of the project.
"The installation of manufacturing companies demands not only engineers, but the largest critical mass found in technicians of various vocations: electricians, mechanics, welders, personnel who can work the machining of parts, etc. In this sense, we are also working with a German group that is highly specialized in technical training. We also want to rescue lost trades, for example, cabinetmakers; with this you can open an opportunity for service," expresses Mr. Suárez Guzmán.
“We are learning from the aerospace industry. Our dream is that Mexico can have a facility where complete airplanes are built.”
Lino Suárez Guzmán, president of the Mazatlán Chapter of the Sinaloa Aerospace Cluster.
Flyox I will be manufactured in Mexico
The history of the MZT AeroSpace Park project began in Madrid, Spain, with three entrepreneurs: Mr. Luis Carrillo, Mr. Víctor García and Mr. Lino Suárez Guzmán.
"The project was born six years ago through one of our companies which is Singular AirCraft, which developed the Flyox I, the remotely piloted seaplane that we need to produce. It was then that we decided to create an alliance between the three friends, so Victor's and my first mission was to find a site in the world where we could install a 387,500.78 square feet industrial building to manufacture the Flyox I, with access to a private airstrip and at sea level. We visited all the aerospace clusters in Mexico, but we could not find a site with the characteristics we were looking for, which led us to consider the idea of building it. This is how MZT AeroSpace Park was created to share it with the world," says the co-founder of TopBrain Group.
The Flyox I will be manufactured at MZT AeroSpace Park, so it will carry a Mexican flag and will be the first largest autonomous civilian aircraft on the planet. "Its payload capacity is 1.8 tons, where 1.5 tons becomes fire extinguisher and the difference in fuel, it runs on 95 octane gasoline like the one in our cars. The Flyox I has an operating cost of USD$250 an hour, which is very little, then you can use it to search for people, find them, detect them, launch a capsule with a raft and all the provisions inside or first aid elements, as well as a GPS for a rescue ship to be launched. It can be used to safeguard borders, for coastal surveillance, for oil issues, to carry goods to inhospitable places, for fumigation, and so on. It can land on land, mud, snow or water, it is very versatile. Some governments around the world have been interested in the Flyox I for military purposes, although it’s not its main mission," explains Mr. Suárez Guzmán.
In its basic format, the cost of Flyox I is €1.5 million, and its value will increase according to the type of technology the clients want to incorporate. "Its payload capacity allows it to fly 24 hours non-stop, it can go from Mazatlán to Canada," emphasizes the president of the Mazatlán Chapter of the Sinaloa Aerospace Cluster.
The MZT AeroSpace Park project will start with a first phase of 68 hectares and in the second phase it will be extended to 201 hectares, where the three-kilometer-long runway is included. "It was no longer just a small enclosure for Singular Aircraft, but for other companies in the world with the same characteristics that Flyox I demands, that is why we grew to these dimensions, at the same time that we are learning from the aerospace industry. Our dream is that Mexico can have a facility where complete airplanes are built. Worldwide, Mexico is the fourteenth largest aerospace power in the world, but we are the sixth largest supplier to the US aerospace industry; we manufacture from A to Z, from a simple component to an airplane turbine, but this is exported, it is not assembled in our country," Mr. Suárez Guzmán says.
He anticipates that the first phase of MZT AeroSpace Park will be ready in March 2022, while the second phase will be completed in 2023. "All the industrial properties that are not attached to the runway were sold in two months. And we are not only bringing industrial buildings, but also a hotel, shopping centers, a passenger bus station, a high-tech hospital, a center for corporate offices and we are working to bring to Mexico the investment of some U.S. aerospace industry laboratories."
The first anchor company of the aerospace park is Singular Aircraft, although there will also be aircraft maintenance and operation companies from the United States, considering that Mexico is a world power in private aircraft. "In the country we have an impressive fleet of aircraft, but many of them have to go abroad for maintenance, so bringing these maintenance centers to our country and to Mazatlán makes a lot of sense. We are also working with a very large group for private aircraft flights and with two companies, one North American and one Latin American, for the construction of nanosatellites, we are looking to build a launch pad for nanosatellites; the aerospace park will be a small Cape Canaveral," informs the co-founder of TopBrain Group.
MZT AeroSpace Park is open to high-tech companies, including those in the automotive industry. "All new technologies require new production lines and that's where we make the aerospace park available. That's why we are designing a test car track and new developments in car and truck technologies. We are working with a European group on the design of that track and hope to have research infrastructure. We are also talking about USMCA issues, with areas to have logistics centers, but also high-tech manufacturing because we offer high-tech services, natural gas, telecommunications, water, etc.," Mr. Suárez Guzmán concludes.
