Airfare grew 32.1% in January

The airline industry in Mexico continues to show resilience. During January, all airlines operating in the country transported 9,936,455 passengers on regular flights, which represented an increase of 32.1%, compared to the same month in 2022, and 73,737 operations were registered, 10.9% more than the reference period. according to the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC).

Thus, despite the various turbulences it faces (such as the eventual authorization of cabotage for foreign airlines on the instructions of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador), the growth rate is maintained and Grupo Aeroméxico took the lead in the number of flights made and increase in passengers.

In the first month of 2023, national companies served 4,978,979 passengers in the domestic market, which meant an increase of 31.4% (the routes Mexico-Cancun, Monterrey-Mexico, Mexico-Guadalajara, Tijuana-Guadalajara and Tijuana- Mexico are the most in demand).

For their part, local airlines that have international flights added one million 269,358 passengers, with which they grew 31.6 percent.

Meanwhile, foreign airlines led by American Airlines grew 32.1% in customers served (three million 688,118).

Of all the international routes that connect with Mexico, the ones with the highest demand were: Chicago-Cancun, Dallas-Cancun, Los Angeles-Guadalajara, Toronto-Cancun and Mexico-Houston.

Based on AFAC data, during the first month of this year, national airlines operated 215 domestic routes (17 more than in January 2022) which registered a load factor of 78.6%. And in international activity they added 112, one less than last year, with a load factor of 79.8 percent.

aeromexico back

Of the 73,737 operations (domestic and international takeoffs or landings) carried out by the industry in Mexico during January, Grupo Aeroméxico made 17,640, thus achieving the largest increase among all its competitors, 36.6% compared to the same month in 2022.

With the above, Aeroméxico retook the lead it had been with Volaris, which added 16,648 operations and an increase of 8.9 percent. In third place is VivaAerobus with 10,364 operations and an increase of 10.3 percent.

Regarding the number of passengers, Volaris is still the company that transports the most passengers: two million 582,812 (an increase of 23.5%), followed by Grupo Aeroméxico with one million 942,137 (the highest increase: 55.1%) and VivaAerobus with one million 650,780 (with an increase of 24.8%).

As part of its growth, Grupo Aeroméxico reported in its January operational report: The load factor was 78.6%, an increase of 6.8 percentage points year-over-year.

The load factor in the international market increased 7.9 percentage points while in the domestic market it increased 5.1 percentage points.

In addition, the airline reiterated that in March it will resume operations in Japan and fly to Italy.

alejandro.delarosa@eleconomista.mx