Interjet and Volaris recorded a smaller drop in the number of passengers transported in regular service by national airlines during the period from January to April 2020, according to data from the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT).
In that indicator, Interjet reported 3,342,000 passengers carried, a year-on-year drop of 28.5 percent.
At the same time, Volaris served 4,883,000 passengers, a 22.5 percent decrease.
On the other hand, both Aeroméxico, with 2 million 441,000 passengers transported (-36.3%) and Aeroméxico Connect, with 1 million 873,000 passengers transported (8-34.9%), had even lower negative results.
Interjet, Volaris and the market
Mexican commercial aviation and related maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) demand have been driven by several factors, including the expansion of low-cost airlines such as Volaris and Interjet, the 2016 approval of the Delta-Aeroméxico association, the conclusion in 2015 of the Bilateral Air Transport Agreement between the United States and Mexico («Open Skies») and a greater use of Mexico as a regional center.
In Mexico, the main international airports are Mexico City and Cancun. In 2019, 47 million 857.00 international passengers arrived in Mexico.
At the same time, international air traffic in Mexico has increased and diversified; Although most passengers continue to arrive from the United States, the number of passengers from other areas (Central and South America and Asia) has grown. Both the increase in the number of passengers and the diversification of their origin are due to the adoption of a more flexible air policy that has allowed the opening of new routes.
But now these advances have faced strong turbulence caused by the Covid-19.
In particular, since 2016, Volaris, Viva Aerobus and Interjet have invested in new assets and modernized their fleets, being able to absorb a good part of the market share compared to the traditional dominant airline Aeroméxico. In 2018, Interjet announced a commercial agreement with American Airlines to jointly offer connecting routes and flights.
Viva Aerobus carried 2 million 657,000 passengers in the same period, a year-on-year drop of 13.4 percent.
All the other airlines had negative results: Magnicharters (98,000 passengers, -43%), Aeromar (172,000 passengers, -30.4%), Transportes Aéreos Regionales (104,000 passengers, -44.1%) and Aéreo Calafia (35,000, -63.2 percent).
