Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico Outperforms AICM

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) operates 12 airports across Mexico’s Pacific region and has positioned itself as the country's first airport group, above AICM, in both domestic and international segments, according to an Expansión report. GAP reported a market share of 34 percent, while AICM reported that it had a market share of 24 percent. 

Today, GAP operates airports in Guadalajara, Tijuana, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Manzanillo, Hermosillo, Guanajuato, Morelia, Aguascalientes, Mexicali, Los Mochis, Sangster (Jamaica) and Norman Manley (Jamica). According to Monex Financial Group, GAP favored the composition and dynamism of airports such as Tijuana and Los Cabos.

Mercado Libre’s New Meli Air

On Dec. 3, Mercado Libre celebrated another milestone with its new proprietary air fleet under the name "Meli Air". Mercado libre is an Argentinian company that this year celebrates 20 years of operations in Mexico. In 2020, the company obtained the biggest loan given to a fintech company following growth in 3Q20 of 146 percent against 3Q19, as mentioned by David Geisen, General Director of Mercado Libre in Mexico, in a Milenio article. One of the company's objectives for this year was having better distribution centers, improving last-mile logistics and working toward the release of its air fleet "Meli Air," reported MBN.

Mexico Joins Satellite Monitoring System

The Mexican Space Agency (AEM) and the Ministry of Communications and Transport (SCT) joined their efforts to those of other agencies in Latin America in the development of the Integral Satellite Information Regional System (SIRIS) platform. SIRIS, which is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) and supported by institutions from Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, uses satellite technology to monitor several economic activities and to support decision-making. 

While many believe satellites are used mainly in monitoring and telecommunications, this technology has a broad scope of applications including supporting agriculture through field monitoring and management using satellite images. The SIRIS project, which is being coordinated by the National Committee of Space Activities of Argentina (CONAE), will grant Mexico access to satellite resources for productive activities. “The digital platform SIRIS shows the advance in space cooperation in Latin America, which through satellite data provides valuable information for decision-making in member countries,” said Salvador Landeros Ayala, Director General of AEM.

Bajio Alliance Moving Forward

The aerospace industry in Mexico has thrived in certain states like Queretaro, Guanajuato, Nuevo Leon, Baja California, Sonora and Chihuahua. The latest breakthrough in the country’s aerospace race is the creation of the Defense and Aeronautics Aerospace Cluster by the Bajio Alliance. Through this alliance, formed by Guanajuato, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi and Queretaro, a route map was defined to integrate the country’s first aerospace, aeronautical and defense cluster. The goal of this initiative is to create synergies between regions to collaborate with the Guanajuato headquarters. As mentioned before by MBN, the state has also been looking to add value to its aerospace sector and to invest in its manufacturing capabilities. By bringing the whole alliance together, there would be a total of 68 aerospace companies in the cluster, most of them located in Queretaro, as well as startups, entrepreneurship projects, academia and government.