President Enrique Pena Nieto formally announced the new six-runway airport project, which aims to ease delays at the current hub, the Benito Juarez International Airport, on Tuesday.
Renowned British architect Norman Foster and Fernando Romero, a son-in-law of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, have won a design contract for the project, a source familiar with the decision told Reuters on Tuesday.
The government is set to unveil the winning design on Wednesday. The design contract is worth a fraction of the overall cost of airport project.
Federico Patino, the financial director of the project, told reporters that the project would initially be financed from operating cash flow generated by Mexico City's current airport, which totals around 8.3 billion pesos ($634 million) a year.
The plan comes after an abortive bid to build a new airport near the chosen site under former President Vicente Fox which met with violent protests, leading to its cancellation in 2002.
Armed with machetes and Molotov cocktails, demonstrators took 19 officials hostage after the government initially offered locals around 70 cents per square yard for land.
This time around the government has said the airport will be located next to the current hub on the eastern flank of Mexico City, where the government already owns land.
Foster is one of the world's most famous architects, and his practice, Foster + Partners, has designed dozens of high-profile projects around the world, including Beijing Airport and London's Wembley Stadium.
His firm also designed a London office building later nicknamed 'the Gherkin' for its rounded shape, which has become on the city's leading landmarks. Romero is married to Soumaya Slim, a daughter of Carlos Slim, one of the world's richest men, and he is the head of FR-EE Fernando Romero Enterprise.
The firm designed Mexico City's distinctive Museo Soumaya, which houses much of Slim's personal art collection behind its sloping, silvery walls.
Slim, who controls Mexican telecoms giant America Movil , is behind a diversified empire that spans mining to banking and retail.