A previous anna.aero trendwatch highlighted the accelerating growth in the Mexican domestic market brought on by the emergence of several new private low-cost airlines, and looked at the top domestic city pairs in terms of traffic. In this analysis, some of the new entrants will be examined in more detail as well as taking a closer look at the international market.
Mexico City: exploiting its central role
Analysis of government statistics for 2006 shows the dominant position of Mexico City airport (MEX) with regard to the domestic market.
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| Source: DGAC Mexico |
With over seven million departing passengers, MEX is more than three times busier than the next busiest domestic airports at Monterrey and Guadalajara. Toluca, the airport some way outside Mexico City being used as a base by both Interjet and Volaris, has come from nowhere to take the number six position with nearly one million departing passengers in its first full year of LCC operations. These top 10 airports account for around three-quarters of all domestic traffic in Mexico.
Airline market shares for the domestic market in 2006 (and the first quarter of 2007) are shown below:
| Airline | Share 2006 | Share 2007 Q1 |
| Aeromexico | 27.4% | 23.7% |
| Mexicana | 20.6% | 17.4% |
| Aviacsa | 14.0% | 14.6% |
| Click Mexicana | 6.4% | 7.1% |
| Interjet | 5.7% | 5.0% |
| Aerolitoral | 5.5% | 5.4% |
| Azteca | 4.9% | 2.0% |
| Volaris | 4.0% | 5.8% |
| Aeromar | 2.9% | 2.1% |
| Magnicharters | 2.8% | 2.6% |
| AeroCalifornia | 2.6% | 4.6% |
| Avolar | 1.9% | 3.5% |
| Alma | 0.9% | 2.6% |
| Vivaaerobus | 0.3% | 3.5% |
| Source: DGAC Mexico | ||
| Note: AeroCalifornia had its licence suspended for six months during 2006. Azteca was grounded in February 2007. | ||
Volaris has overtaken Interjet to now rank as the second largest LCC after Click MX. The start dates, fleet sizes, aircraft types and operational bases of the new carriers are shown below.
| Airline | Started | Fleet (seats) | Base |
| Click Mexicana | July 2005 | 14 F100 (100) | Mexico City |
| Avolar | September 2005 | 8 B737 (136) | Tijuana |
| Interjet | December 2005 | 7 A320 (180) | Toluca |
| Volaris | March 2006 | 11 A319 (144) | Toluca |
| Alma | June 2006 | 8 CRJ200 (50) | Guadalajara |
| Vivaaerobus | November 2006 | 2 B737 (148) | Monterrey |
| Source: JP-Fleets (May 2007) | |||
A total of 50 aircraft are operated by these new low-cost carriers, with many more on order and awaiting delivery. anna.aero will look in more detail at some of these carriers in future weeks.
International traffic booming as well
The international market is dominated by foreign carriers as the majority of passengers on international flights are foreign. In 2006, Mexican airlines had a 30% share of international passengers, but this has fallen to under 24% in the first quarter of 2007 although Mexicana still transports more international passengers than any other carrier.
| Airline | Share 2006 | Share 2007 Q1 |
| Mexicana | 18.6% | 14.7% |
| American | 12.4% | 11.4% |
| AeroMexico | 9.1% | 7.7% |
| Continental | 8.0% | 7.7% |
| Alaska Airlines | 6.2% | 6.8% |
| Express Jet | 5.6% | 4.7% |
| Delta | 5.2% | 6.4% |
| United | 4.5% | 4.0% |
| America West | 2.9% | 3.0% |
| US Airways | 2.5% | 2.6% |
| Source: DGAC Mexico | ||
Delta has made the biggest gain in market share in the first quarter. In terms of which Mexican airports support most international traffic, Mexico City leads the way once again.
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| Source: DGAC Mexico |
Cancun and Guadalajara are second and third with San José del Cabo (SJD) fourth. SJD is primarily a tourist destination on the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, popular with American and Canadian tourists.
Nine of the 10 most popular destinations for international services are in the USA with only Madrid preventing an all-US top 10.
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| Source: DGAC Mexico |
The only route to show a significant drop was Los Angeles with Madrid growing the fastest. The total growth in international scheduled traffic of four per cent is significantly below the domestic growth rate, reflecting the fact that the new fast-growing Mexican LCCs are currently focusing on domestic operations. Once they start international services the rate of growth is likely to increase.
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