Between January and February, Mexico received 18.77 million passengers, according to data recently released by the country’s civil aviation authorities. Volaris led the market with 4.84 million passengers, followed by Grupo Aeromexico and Viva Aerobus. In February, the country lost an airline to bankruptcy, Aeromar.
Strong start to the year
The Mexican aviation market had 18.77 million passengers during the so-called low season of the year. Nonetheless, the airlines operating to and from Mexico carried 29% more travelers than in the first two months of 2022, when they had 14.55 million.
Photo: Guillermo Quiroz Martínez via @gquimar.
The market is unlikely to continue growing at this rate; in January and February 2022, a COVID-19 outbreak and several issues with airlines like Aeromexico reduced the number of passengers. By the end of the year, Mexico had over 107 million passengers, a record. The North American country quickly rebounded from the pandemic alongside other Latin American nations such as the Dominican Republic and Colombia.
Find the latest South American aviation news here.
In February, Mexico surpassed Brazil as the largest aviation market in the Latin American region. Brazil had 18.3 million passengers in the first two months of the year (only recovering 88.4% of 2019’s traffic levels). Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Brazil was the largest aviation market in the region.
Domestic market
In the first two months of the year, Mexico had 9.43 million domestic passengers. The market was led by Volaris, carrying 3.93 million travelers in this period. Viva Aerobus had 2.76 million travelers, and Aeromexico received 2.61 million travelers. Aeromar, the now defunct regional carrier, received 31,931 travelers, while Magnicharters had 27,430 and Transportes Aéreos Regionales had 43,384.
It is expected the country will have a new carrier in April. The regional operator Aerus is readying to launch commercial services from Monterrey International Airport, serving five cities in the north of the country.
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International market
Internationally, the carrier with the most passengers was American Airlines. The Fort Worth-based carrier had 1.33 million passengers between January and February. Aeromexico followed with 1.06 million passengers.
United Airlines and Volaris were in third and fourth with 910,349 and 903,709 passengers during the period. The US-Mexico international segment is still the hottest globally.
To start the year, American Airlines holds a 22% market share between Mexico and the United States. United Airlines has a 14.8% share, followed by Delta Air Lines with a 13.0%, Volaris with a 12.6%, and Aeromexico with 6.8%.
In Europe, Mexico’s main partner is Spain. 30.10% of all passengers flying to Europe go to this country, with France and the United Kingdom following (18.6% and 15.7% market shares, respectively).
In South America, Colombia is Mexico’s top destination by a mile. About 52% of all travelers flying to and from South America and Mexico come from Colombia. Peru is second with 22.27%.
Have you visited Mexico this year? How was your experience with any of the carriers serving in and out of the country? Let us know in the comments below.