US FTC Clears Volaris-Viva Merger into Grupo Más Vuelos

Mexican ultra-low-cost carriers Volaris and Viva have cleared key international regulatory hurdles in their proposed merger to create Grupo Más Vuelos, following approvals from antitrust authorities in Colombia and the United States. However, the creation of what would become Mexico’s dominant airline holding company remains contingent on a pending antitrust review by Mexico’s National Antitrust Commission (CNA), expected before the end of 2026.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) granted its approval for the transaction under the Sua Sponte principle, a regulatory mechanism allowing the commission to issue a ruling on a commercial transaction or alliance without a formal request from the participating entities. Viva confirmed the FTC’s determination, according to regulatory filings.

If fully approved by Mexican authorities, the proposed holding company will consolidate the operations of two of the region's largest low-cost carriers into a single corporate structure. Under the terms of the agreement, Grupo Más Vuelos will operate as a 50-50 joint venture between the shareholders of both airlines. The combined entity’s governing board will be chaired by Roberto Alcántara, the current chairman of Viva. Despite the corporate integration under Grupo Más Vuelos, both Volaris and Viva will retain their respective commercial brand names for market operations.

The transaction would create an airline group operating a combined fleet ranging between 208 and 251 aircraft, managing a network of 224 domestic and international routes. The consolidated entity would handle at least 60 million air passengers annually.

In the Mexican domestic market, the merger would result in a substantial shift in competitive dynamics. Grupo Más Vuelos would control between 75% and 77% of Mexico's domestic passenger traffic, leaving the remaining 23% of the domestic market primarily to flag carrier Aeroméxico. Additionally, the combined airline would control 27% of the cross-border transborder market between Mexico and the United States.

"For our shareholders, the transaction is designed to create a stronger platform for long-term value creation, supported by greater scale, increased purchasing power, broader access to capital, operational efficiencies, and enhanced financial flexibility, while preserving cost principles," said Enrique Beltranena, chief executive officer, Volaris, in an official statement detailing the strategic outlook for the combined platform.

Beyond air route concentration, antitrust regulators at Mexico's CNA are reviewing the potential impacts of a low-cost monopoly on domestic airfares, as well as the transaction's broader implications for intermodal passenger transport competition.

A central element under evaluation is the relationship between Viva Aerobus and ground transportation conglomerate Grupo Inversionistas en Autotransportes Mexicanos (Grupo IAMSA). Considered the largest multimodal transport conglomerate in Mexico and Latin America, Grupo IAMSA holds controlling interests in long-distance bus operators including ETN, Turistar Lujo, Parhikuni, Costa Line, and Amealcenses, alongside a passenger rail partnership in Ferrocarriles Suburbanos with Spain's CAF. Viva’s tie-in with Grupo IAMSA accounts for ten million bus passengers annually.

The integration raises strategic questions regarding intermodal competition. In Mexico, the long-distance bus market carries more than 3.7 billion passengers annually, compared to roughly 100 million passengers carried by the commercial aviation sector. Historically, a core element of Volaris’s growth strategy under Beltranena focused on converting long-distance intercity bus passengers into air travelers. The combination of Volaris with an airline tied directly to the country's dominant bus operator could alter those competitive dynamics.

"Airlines do not only compete among themselves. Traffic is not purely aerial; they also compete against the supply of ground transportation options. Therefore, the authority would have to evaluate not only the concentration at different airports, but they also have to evaluate the competition that exists from the perspective of ground transportation," said Alik García, subdirector of stock analysis, VALMEX Casa de Bolsa, in an interview with El Financiero.