Last month, Volaris recorded a network-wide passenger load factor of 87.4 percent. The Mexican outfit announced its traffic numbers for April this week. Despite the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on its operations, its active flights are still somewhat full.

Volaris Airbus Aircraft
Volaris has been forced to make drastic amendments to its services over the last few months. Photo: Airbus

Challenging months

According to a press release, the low-cost carrier has had its services rocked by global travel restrictions. With several of its services suspended, capacity (measured by available seat miles) decreased by 82.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

Additionally, demand measured by revenue passenger miles decreased 81.8 percent year on year. In total, Volaris served 307,000 customers throughout April.

Volaris aircraft on runway
Volaris is an all-Airbus carrier, holding four Airbus A319s, 57 A320s and 16 A321s within its fleet. Photo: Airbus

Tough decisions

Volaris president and CEO Enrique Beltranena spoke of his firm's results. Even though the airline is facing an uphill struggle in the current climate, he is impressed with the way his staff is handling the situation.

"I am especially proud of the job of our ambassadors and their selfless attitude facing this unprecedented challenge," Beltranena said, as per the press release.

"Volaris is taking crucial actions to prioritize the health of our ambassadors and customers while protecting the business,"

Volaris is implementing decisive actions to mitigate the operational and financial impacts of COVID-19 by making deep schedule reductions for April and May. The company is drastically reducing spending and carefully managing its liquidity position. The executive summarized that his team is not hesitant in making difficult decisions to ensure long-term success.

The Mexican government has extended its restrictions to combat the spread of the virus until at least May 31st. Therefore, Volaris has had to limit its operations for this month further. It is placing capacity reductions of around 90 percent compared with its original schedule.

coronavirus hong kong
Hong Kong is strict about its measures to tackle the virus. Photo: Getty

Still fighting

While commercial passenger services are down, the airline has been turning its focus to help those in need amid the health crisis. It has been conducting essential flights to help transport professionals fighting the virus in 14 Mexican cities. Furthermore, it has been shipping ventilators aimed at preserving lives in the region of Baja California. Altogether, even though Volaris' flights are down, it is performing efficiently with the ones that are still going.

Meanwhile, Aeromexico's planes were 48 percent occupied in April, whereas they were 82 percent full a year ago. Nonetheless, both Mexican operators will be hoping that the outbreak slows down soon so that they can start to resume some of their suspended flights.

Simple Flying reached out to Volaris about its passenger activity but did not hear back before publication. We will update the article with any further announcements.

What are your thoughts on Volaris' load factor for April? How do you see the operator performing throughout the summer? Let us know what you think of the situation in the comment section.