The degradation of Mexican air security from Category 1 to Category 2 has cost Viva Aerobus the opening of several routes to the United States, as part of the measure implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA, for its acronym in English) that prevents Mexican airlines from placing more flights and frequencies to that country from May 2021.
“When they demoted us we had to cancel three routes at that time, which we already had for sale but were not operating and we had to put them on hold . We probably could have opened another three or four more routes, so maybe we should have had another six or seven more routes. The only thing we are doing is delaying the start of operations of new routes,” Juan Carlos Zuazua, general director of Viva Aerobus, told the media.
However, the manager said that he will continue to evaluate new alternatives in that market hand in hand with the Allegiant airline, which at the end of 2021 announced an investment of 50 million dollars for a stake in Viva Aerobus, which is still subject to the approval of the United States Department of Transportation and the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) in Mexico.
“We are going to continue exploring new opportunities to grow in the market hand in hand with our partner in the United States, Allegiant”, he emphasized.
Zuazua also referred to the 15% reduction in the maximum number of operations per hour at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), which will be effective as of October 31, and which in the case of Viva Aerobus will represent a reduction in flights and frequencies.
“It’s a combination of the two. We had to cancel some temporary routes in the summer in Mexico City because [delivery of] planes was delayed, right now I don’t have them for sale. We canceled some like Mexico-Medellín, like Mexico-Dallas, and we also had to close one more than cancel frequencies,” he said.
New operational base in Mérida
Viva Aerobus announced the opening of its sixth operations base in Mérida, Yucatán, where it will seek to establish itself as a new regional air hub , and where it will add three new routes and add up to 400 monthly flights.
The new base in Mérida joins Cancun, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana, and it is estimated that it will generate 300 direct jobs in a first stage, plus another 300 jobs indirectly.
At the same time, Viva Aerobus will open three new routes from Mérida: to Toluca, where it will have a daily flight starting on September 23; to Querétaro, where it will operate with two weekly frequencies as of December 16, and to León with two weekly frequencies as of December 18.
“Viva Aerobus is already the airline with the largest number of flights and passengers in Mérida. As of July, we transported almost 600,000 passengers through seven operational routes”, said Zuazua.
