For Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), the pandemic is practically past history. The recovery of the operator – which has 12 Mexican airports and two in Jamaica in its portfolio – was one of the first to be written after the fall in demand for flights during the second quarter of 2020. Now the objective is to grow, not only in passengers, but also in complexes.
During July, GAP registered an increase in passengers of 20.7% compared to 2019, and served more than 5.3 million passengers. Although most of the volume comes from the domestic segment –which rose almost 16% in the same period–, the greatest evolution has been seen in the international market , which has grown by 27.4% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
For Raúl Revuelta, general director of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, it has been precisely this segment – specifically from the US market – that has driven the company’s results, which closed the second quarter with a net profit of 2,249.2 million pesos , 84.7 % higher than in the same period of 2019.
“The American market had a great reunion with Mexico in the midst of the pandemic,” the manager explains to Expansión . “The feeling that it is your neighbor, that it is closer to home, gives a certain security that you will return quickly (…) North American routes have given us very important growth.”
The data indicates that this has been the case of airports in markets such as Tijuana, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta , which have had strong upturns and, at the same time, maintain a strong exposure to the US, Canadian and more recently European markets. .
The Tijuana International Airport has been the most relevant case due to its growth. Passengers served at this complex grew 52.6% during July compared to 2019, and it was the airport with the highest volume of GAP, even surpassing Guadalajara Airport during the summer. In addition, the border bridge Cross Border Xpress (CBX) increased to 53.8% more users in the same period.
“In Tijuana we have a mix of different effects going on. I would start with the CBX, which has made the airport grow significantly; before it had around 4 million passengers a year, now by 2022 we expect it to cross the barrier of 12 million passengers . There is no airport that grows at that rate”, Revuelta considers.
Added to this trend are the airports of Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta, which have grown more in the international segment compared to 2019, with increases of 42.6% and 29.9%, respectively.
GAP expects that, by the end of this year, 11 of the 12 airports it operates in the country will have recovered their pre-pandemic traffic. Due to its dependence on business travelers, Guanajuato is the exception to this expectation, since there is still no clarity on the change that the pandemic will generate in this market.
The two airports in Jamaica
The airports in Jamaica – located in Kingston and Montego Bay , Revuelta believes that it will still take time for them to recover the volumes of 2019. However, the company has not taken its eye off the Caribbean, where it is still seeking to rehabilitate and operate by 30 years of Grantley Adams International Airport .
“A prequalification was done by the government of Barbados . There was an extension in time, the process should start in July and will go to December, but we are still very interested, “said the manager.
According to the most recent update of its growth guide, for this year GAP expects a growth of between 26% and 30% in passenger traffic, with a rise of up to 38% in aeronautical revenues and up to 35% in revenues. non-aeronautical.
