Air traffic from Mexico City to various Texas towns soared during April and even surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Cities like San Antonio and Houston showed double-digit growth mainly driven by vaccine tourism, while others begin to gain momentum as this practice is facilitated on the other side of the border.
The most prominent case has been that of Houston. According to an expansion analysis based on figures from the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT), in March the route from Mexico City served just over 62,000 users, a volume that, although it was high compared to other cities, it was still 16% below the same period of 2019. However, in April the volume shot up to more than 93,000 users, with a growth of 48% compared to two years ago.
In relative terms, San Antonio was the destination that grew the most from Mexico City, with a 68% increase in air traffic with more than 37,000 passengers, despite having suspended operations on the route for two months in 2020. The levels last April are even higher than the best month of 2019, which in both cases was December.
The upturn in air traffic in both countries coincides with the announcement by Texas at the end of March, which allows anyone over 16 years of age to get vaccinated in the state, including foreign tourists, since before it was an existing trend, but not explicitly legal.
“Since January we have been hearing that there has been the case of [going to vaccinate] Colorado, Florida, Texas, also California. Starting in March is when you see a subject less in the dark , and much clearer in the announcements that have been made a few weeks ago, as in the case of New York ”, explains Francisco Madrid, director of the Center for Tourist Research and Competitiveness (Cicotur) Anahuac.
For the specialist, the short-term trend is the trips of the Mexican population groups of younger age, since the vaccination campaigns of the elderly have already advanced.
Although the opening of Texas vaccines was one of the first, other states have begun to relax the inoculation requirements with the intention of strengthening their respective tourism industries, which is beginning to be reflected in the air passenger indicators.
This has been the case of two of the most popular destinations before the pandemic, New York and Los Angeles, which from March to April grew 61% and 45% in terms of air traffic, respectively, although it is still around half of pre-COVID-19 levels.
With lower volumes, other destinations that have had strong traffic growth from Mexico City have been Las Vegas (which rose 115% from March to April), Seattle (93%) and McAllen (50%).
An opportunity for airlines … from the United States
Although a travel boom to the United States is anticipated in a format that combines the intention to get vaccinated with the intention to vacation, recent measures implemented by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will limit the ability of domestic airlines to take advantage of this opportunity. They prevent Mexican companies from adding new routes, increasing frequencies and even using code-sharing schemes with US airlines.
This is the case of Aeroméxico, which, as of July 1, was seeking to reopen two routes from Mexico City to Austin and Dallas, Texas, with Delta. In this regard, Aeroméxico told Expansión that for the moment there are no changes in their itineraries, without giving further details.
On behalf of Volaris and Viva Aerobus, although there was a focus on the cross-border market, both companies have expressed their intention to focus on the domestic market in light of the announcement of the FAA’s measures.
For Madrid, this situation could be taken advantage of by United States airlines, who could add seats for the summer season. “Unfortunately they will no longer be able to increase their capacities (…) The problem is that the United States was working for the national airlines as a source of income due to a demand with a lot of appetite, even willing to pay a premium for these conditions. Rather than losing this income, they could have channeled more seats on those routes ”, concludes the specialist.
