Operating in AIFA puts pressure on airline costs

Asking companies to use both terminals is a lack of commercial sensitivity, experts say.

The agreement with the federal government and airlines to carry out more than 100 daily operations at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) starting on August 15 will increase the operating costs of airlines, which have not yet recovered financially from the pandemic, experts warned.

To operate at both Mexico City International Airport (AICM) and AIFA, companies need ground and air personnel at both terminals, and if they have code-share agreements with foreign airlines, the connection is complicated for flights that arrive in Mexico City but are headed to another destination, which “is a disaster,” said Juan Carlos Machorro, an expert in aeronautics and airport infrastructure at the Santamarina y Steta firm.

“Airlines are a sector that has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. They have not received a single cent of support from the federal government and are now being forced to stop their operations at AICM and AIFA, which is a lack of commercial sensitivity for these companies, whose profit margins are very low,” explained the analyst.

Machorro said airlines operate from a specific terminal due to economies of scale and code-sharing alliances to facilitate flight connections.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, he recalled, the International Air Transport Association (LATA) recommended that governments suspend investments in the various new airport infrastructure projects and allocate resources to support airlines. “In Mexico, these recommendations were not heeded, and resources were spent on the construction of the project in Santa Lucía,” Machorro stressed. “Now, by decree, the intention is to manage passengers through AIFA,” he said.

On March 17, Aeroméxico concluded its financial restructuring process under Chapter 11. In the first quarter of the year, the airline's revenues were 12 billion pesos, but it reported a net loss of 902 billion.

In addition, the average cost of jet fuel increased by 66% during that period. Now, the airline will operate in Terminal 2 of AICM, where flights from its commercial partner Delta arrive; in Terminal 1, where it occupied some slots left by Interjet, and from AIFA starting in October. 

Between January and March, airlines Volaris and Viva Aerobus reported losses of 980 million and 600 million pesos, respectively.

Pablo Casas Lías, director of the National Institute for Aeronautical Legal Research, explained that when an airport is inaugurated, the process is done in collaboration with airlines. “They do market studies to see if it is profitable to fly from there, if it is convenient for them or if they will generate losses, not on a whim,” he explained.

“Here it is the other way around, they are almost paying them to fly from there (AIFA), with discounts on the TUA (Airport Use Fee), on fuel and on airport services.”

Source: El Universal