MEXICO CITY — Mexico City's crowded international airport opened a long-awaited terminal last week that is expected to boost passenger capacity by more than 40 percent.

Officials say the $792 million Terminal 2 will let some 34 million travelers pass through Benito Juarez International Airport a year, up from current capacity of about 24 million.

An Aeromar jet headed to the western city of Colima was the first flight to take off from the new facility Thursday, followed by a Delta flight to Atlanta, Ga.

Aeromexico, Continental Airlines, Lan Chile and Copa Airlines are also expected to use the terminal, which will include a hotel, parking garage and shops when fully complete.

President Felipe Calderon will inaugurate the terminal officially early next year, when it is expected to be handling 43 percent of the airport's traffic, Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez said. The airport currently handles 54 takeoffs and landings every hour.

The expansion came after various failed attempts to build a new airport serving Mexico City.

In 2002, then-President Vicente Fox scrapped a plan to construct a six-runway, $2.3 billion airport in nearby Texcoco after machete-wielding farmers refused to give up their land.