Mexico’s Aerospace Industry is on the Road to Recovery

An OAG report states that airlines worldwide are having a breakthrough, reaching 80 million seats a week. Mexico is only 9.6 percent away from fully recovering the domestic capacity it had before the pandemic, reads the report. 

According to the OAG, Mexico remains in the top 10 countries in capacity. Mexico is in 10th place after Brazil and followed by France. The numbers show that in July 2019, Mexico had a capacity of 1.95 million, which fell to 1.92 million in 2020. In 2021, capacity still remains low at 1.76 million. The top five countries in capacity are the US, China, Russia, Spain and India.

While the performance of Mexican airlines showed an improvement as they try to recover what was lost during the pandemic, the number of domestic travelers was still down by 18.8 percent in May 2021, according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT). On the other hand, cargo operations grew during that period. For example, Mexico City International Airport (AICM), the largest in the country, transported 180,375.9 tons of cargo between January and April 2021, which represents a growth of 17.9 percent compared to the 152,983.8 tons of the same period in 2020.

The latest reports from Mexican airlines Viva Aerobus and Volaris show an increase in traffic and capacity. In June 2021, Viva Aerobus announced that it had exceeded their monthly passenger record for the second consecutive month, reaching 1.36 million registered passengers. This is an increase of 31 percent compared to June 2019 and “a sign of sustained recovery.” The airline reported a load factor of 88.1 percent, “one of the highest nationally and internationally.” In its June traffic report, Volaris said that “demand in the national and international market for Volaris increased 18.9 percent and 15.5 percent, compared to June 2019, respectively. The Company capitalized on opportunities to add capacity, both nationally (+20.0 percent) and internationally (+14.2 percent), at the same time, it maintained a high load factor (89.1 percent). In June 2021, Volaris transported 2.1 million passengers, 14 percent more than before the pandemic.”