Domestic market saves the Mexican airline industry

Due to its growing volume, the domestic market has been the lifeline of the airline industry in Mexico after the health crisis. Between recent January and November it represented the historic figure of 51 million 704,607 passengers transported.

Without a shadow, the leadership is marked by the low-cost business model implemented by Volaris and VivaAerobus, airlines that served seven out of 10 passengers (in the same period of 2019 there were five).

AFAC figures indicate that the five busiest routes within the country are: Mexico-Cancun, Monterrey-Mexico, Mexico-Tijuana, Tijuana-Mexico and Tijuana-Guadalajara. The first has begun to have incipient competition in the downtown area (with the Toluca-Cancún operation and the Felipe Ángeles-Cancún International Airport).

In this local market, it also participates with Grupo Aeroméxico, which has strengthened its operation at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), its main operations center, making it the only one that has activity in its two terminals.

In the case of Volaris (which added 21 million 248,035 passengers, 38.8% more than in 2019, which makes it the company with the most activity), its CEO, Enrique Beltranena, has expressed his appreciation for the good pace that reflects its operation within the country.

“Demand remains strong and we are convinced of our revenue management strategy. Forward bookings remain strong and we expect to continue to maintain strong load factors in the coming months. We continue with our flexible route network strategy and we will continue to stimulate our markets with our ultra-low-cost model”, he detailed in his November operating report.

For his part, the director of VivaAerobus, Jua Carlos Zuazua, said: in November, demand remained strong, allowing us to maintain healthy levels in our load factors in an environment of good revenue per passenger. On the occasion of our 16th anniversary, we are proud to have been recognized as the Low Cost Airline of 2022 by the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA). We are the first Mexican airline to receive this award.

During the 11 referred months, domestic passengers represented 53.6% of the total industry, while in the same period they had a participation of 52.9%.

AFAC figures indicate that, in operations within the country, VivaAerobus was the second most relevant player with 15,674,078 passengers in January and November, which represented the largest increase compared to 2019 of all its competitors: 60.1 percent.

In third place is Grupo Aeroméxico with its 13 million 674,078 passengers, with which it grew 14.9% compared to the indicated period and is in the process of natural growth within Mexico and abroad, as the flag carrier of Mexico. .

One of the reasons for the good times that companies are experiencing, despite the fact that they cannot increase operations to the US, is the size of their fleet. Last year, until November, 325 aircraft were registered, with which they can serve 229 routes, the largest number in the last three years, in 56 local airports (three more than last year).

While local commercial aviation is looking for efficiencies to overcome bad times and serving routes with passenger demand, the federal government is preparing the creation of an airline operated by the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), with everything and the criticism that they have already received.

alejandro.delarosa@eleconomista.mx