International Carriers Increase Mexico Market Share

(Mexico City, AN 29 November) According to Mexico’s federal Department of Transportation, in October 2010, foreign air carriers accounted for 81.3% of all passenger air traffic into and out of the country. In October of 2009 the equivalent statistic was 64.1%. By bilateral treaties, trading partners (like Mexico and Canada or Mexico and the US) try to establish international passenger and cargo flights that result in a balance of market share between national and foreign carriers. This balance cannot be maintained when one of the countries simply does not have the lift capacity to match the demands of the market. That is the case with Mexico. It should represent around one half of the international market, and in October it just barely accounted for one sixth.

The suspension of operations by Mexicana de Aviación and its related affiliates probably had the largest impact on the drop in Mexican participation in its international air transport market. Another was the down-grading by the US Federal Aviation Administration of its appraisal of Mexico’s aviation security. This periodic appraisal not only covers passenger screening and boarding, but also examines the quality of maintenance and the age of the fleet.
The raw data for October, 2010 show that 1.59 million passengers flew into or out of Mexico during the month. This is an increase over the prior year of almost 1 percent. Considering that the Mexicana group accounted for 23% of international air capacity in the market (considering both foreign and national carriers), this is a surprising figure. In all, 297,400 passengers flew on Mexican carriers in October, a drop of 47% from the same period a year ago. Foreign carriers received 1.29 million passengers in October, up 28% from the previous year.