The dynamism of US airlines, in turn, led the segment of foreign companies to increase their traffic in Mexico by 16% compared to 2019.
Among the 10 largest airlines in this market, there are only three Mexican ones –Aeroméxico, Viva Aerobus and Volaris–, while the rest are American.
In December, American Airlines was the one that kept the highest proportion of this market, with 21.7%. This was followed by United Airlines, with 16.5% and Volaris, with 12.8%.
Aeromexico, which is the largest airline in the country in terms of revenue, was left with 8.6% of the market; however, the airline has created synergies with Delta Airlines, which is one of the largest shareholders of the Mexican company.
One of the biggest factors driving the recovery of US airlines has been the downgrade to Category 2 of Mexican air safety, which has prevented national companies from opening new routes, adding frequencies to the ones they already have, as well as adding new planes.
The downgrade was made in May 2021, and since then the government has worked with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to comply with the 39 observations that have been made to AFAC.
Tentatively, the government hoped to recover Category 1 in April this year, but after the delay in visits by the US authority, there has been no update on this forecast.
