Starting on December 15, Aeromexico will operate its first route to Europe in a decade that doesn’t start in Mexico City. The Mexican carrier will connect Guadalajara and Madrid in a non-stop route onboard its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. Let’s investigate further.
What do we know about the new route?
Aeromexico will operate this route using its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. As of August 2021, Aeromexico has 18 Dreamliners (eight -8 and ten -9) in its fleet. It plans to receive four more in the next few years.
The Guadalajara-Madrid route will have three flights per week, on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The total flight time will be ten hours and 35 minutes. Meanwhile, the flight returning to the Mexican city will depart on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, with a total flight time of 13 hours and ten minutes.
Andrés Castañeda, Aeromexico’s Executive Vice President for Digital and Customer Experience, said,
“Connecting the State of Jalisco directly with Spain and the European continent marks a new Aeromexico stage. This announcement is only one part of the growth plans we have in this state and others that our clients demand, including more opportunities for air cargo transportation.”
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It was an overdue route
According to data obtained via OAG Traffic Analyzer by our own James Pearson, Guadalajara-Madrid has a sizeable point-to-point market and lacked a direct flight completely. For example, in 2019, over 35,000 round-trip passengers flew between both cities (mainly via Mexico City). For Europe as a whole, Guadalajara saw a flux of over 140,000 passengers.
Therefore, it is not surprising to see that Madrid was far and away Guadalajara’s most significant unserved long-haul market, followed by São Paulo, Paris, Buenos Aires, and Santiago de Chile.
Andrés Castañeda did say that Aeromexico has growth plans in Guadalajara. Therefore, we could expect the airline to launch more international flights from this Mexican city.
According to the Cirium database, Guadalajara currently connects with Fresno, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Sacramento.
Additionally, according to data from the Guadalajara airport, in 2018, the main international underserved markets by Aeromexico were Bogota, Madrid, Detroit, Toronto, and Sao Paulo. While things have changed over the years (mainly due to the COVID crisis), maybe these destinations could receive direct flights from Aeromexico. We’ll have to wait and see.
A brief history of Aeromexico’s long-haul flights to Europe
Currently, Aeromexico has three routes to Europe. It flies to Amsterdam, Paris, and Madrid. The carrier offers nearly 68,000 monthly seats onboard its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.
In January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, Aeromexico had 381 monthly flights between Mexico and Europe. It operated five routes, all from Mexico City. Its destinations were Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, London, and Madrid.
Since 2010, every Aeromexico route to Europe has gone through Mexico City International Airport, according to data provided by Cirium. But prior to that, Aeromexico did operate a few flights to Europe from another Mexican city, Monterrey.
Back in 2006, Aeromexico operated a route between Mexico, Monterrey, and Madrid. Nevertheless, this operation was short-lived following low load factors onboard the airline’s B767-200ER fleet. Additionally, the carrier operated a Monterrey-Rome direct flight in 2009.
Would you love to fly with Aeromexico to Guadalajara? Let us know in the comments.