2023 will be a challenging year for airports: analysts

This year the outlook looks challenging for the airport group sector listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) mainly due to the economic slowdown expected worldwide and because the comparative base will be difficult to match, stock analysts said.

For Alain Jaimes, a senior analyst at Signum Research, among the factors that would play against these companies would be new increases in fuel prices or additional containment measures due to new waves of Covid-19; however, the demand for travel will continue to be strong, so the good performance of the airport groups would continue to extend.

“The performance that the stations had last year will be difficult to match in this 2023; but as long as new negative shocks do not materialize in the economy and there are positive surprises in economic growth, the sector could continue to rebound at a more moderate level”, he considered.

For his part, Brian Rodríguez, an analyst at Monex Casa de Bolsa, said that despite the challenging conditions that are anticipated for the sector, nearshoring will help boost travel demand in the business segment, mainly to destinations in the north and Bajío of the Mexican Republic, which would mainly benefit Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA).

The challenges for the specialist are the degradation in the aviation security category for Mexican airlines, which would limit new business for airports, as well as the possible global economic recession.

One focus will be the saturation of the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) and the role assumed by the Felipe Ángeles Airport.

they rode the storm

The three main airport groups listed on the BMV withstood the turbulence of the global stock markets, ending with a positive performance in 2022.

Its behavior in the year “was notable for the dynamism in passenger traffic, which is at higher levels than before the pandemic, which could be the result of contained demand from consumers who could not travel due to sanitary restrictions, as well as a relative normalization in the price of jet fuel”, said Alain Jaimes.

Airport operators in the country were among those with the best performance throughout the year, said Brian Rodríguez, despite the fact that it is a cyclical sector that tends to be affected in adverse situations for the economy, such as current high inflation. .

However, the strength of consumption boosted tourism that ended up benefiting the operations of broadcasters in the sector.

oma to the lead

In terms of share performance, the winners were OMA, closing 2022 with a return of 23.25%, followed by Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (Asur), with a gain of 11.28 percent. Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) had a softer landing, since its share barely gained 3.86% between January and December of the year that just ended.

Together, the three airport groups on the Mexican Stock Exchange moved more than 12 million passengers between January and November of last year.

This figure represented an increase of more than 25% in traffic compared to the same period of 2021.

The best growth was that of GAP, followed by Asur and OMA.

judith.santiago@eleconomista.mx