Singular Aircraft Will Invest Nearly MX$300 million in Sinaloa

The Minister of Economic Development, Tourism and Municipal Fisheries of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, David González revealed the authorization to build an aerospace park in the municipality, according to a note by El Sol de Mazatlán. The Spanish company Singular Aircraft will invest close to MX$300 million (US$13.2 million) in this project, which will be key to the aerospace industry in Sinaloa. Singular Aircraft is a new UAV or RPA (Remotly Piloted Aircraft) manufacturing company, currently in the prototyping stage.

"The process had been stopped. It was somewhat complicated to achieve consensus of the different actors but finally on Monday, we received the approval to start the construction of what will be the key to the aerospace industry in Sinaloa. Mazatlan will be the first with such a park," said González in an interview with the newspaper.

Now, let’s jump into The Week in Aerospace! Here are highlights of the week:

Aviation Faces Worst Crisis in History
After years of continuous growth, the aviation industry finds itself almost paralyzed in many regions in the world. The industry began to feel the effects from the sudden dry up in demand as early as March with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reporting that the industry would lose up to US$113 billion in revenue compared to the previous year. However, an increasingly larger number of border closures and travel restrictions would further erase demand, leading the association to update its forecast three times, all for the worse. Earlier this week, IATA updated its economic forecast estimating that losses in revenue could climb up to US$419 billion, only to later correct it to US$434 billion.

Trouble Continues for Airbus, Boeing
US giant Boeing, which is still facing the crisis caused by the two crashes of the 737 Max, is now been plagued by cancellations and deferrals, which led it to cut down production. In May, Boeing delivered only four aircraft, the lowest amount for a month in six decades. Moreover, new orders have significantly shrunk. While the OEM received nine orders that month, they were all for freight aircraft, which reflects the sharp drop in demand for passenger flights. “The demand for commercial airline travel has fallen off a cliff, with US passenger volumes down more than 95 percent compared to last year,” said David Calhoun, President and CEO of Boeing. In Mexico, Boeing aircraft is mainly used by Aeroméxico, which has not reported orders or cancellations to date.
French planemaker Airbus finds itself in a similar situation. While the OEM delivered 24 aircraft in May, it received no new orders for the month. Back in May, Airbus explained that it was “bleeding cash at an unprecedented speed,” which led it to furlough thousands of employees in Wales, France and Spain. Both manufacturers are also dealing with numerous deferrals of existing orders but Airbus warned airlines that failure to comply with their existing commitments may lead the French OEM to sue.

Mexican Airlines Maintain Downward Trend in May
Mexico’s flagship airline Aeroméxico had already reported a troublesome April. On a report detailing May traffic released today, the airline reported that its demand measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) fell by 94.4 percent year-on-year for the month. Its capacity was also affected, as the airline saw a 76.6 percent decrease in available seat kilometers (ASK). Aeroméxico’s total transported passenger showed a 92.4 percent drop, for a total of 135,000 passengers. Low cost airline Volaris reported a similar situation. The airline, which reports its figures in miles, reported an 88.1 percent decrease in RPMs and 88.1 percent decrease in ASM during May. Altogether, Volaris transported only 213,000 passengers that month, a sharp decrease compared to last year’s 1.93 million. “May traffic was the most impacted month by COVID-19 to date. Nevertheless, for June 2020, Volaris announced it will operate approximately 33 percent of the originally planned schedule, responding to recent, stronger demand,” said Enrique Beltranena, President and CEO of Volaris.