Aeromexico and Delta Air Lines are planning to operate more than 4,300 flights between Mexico and the United States in December. If they manage to do it, the two airlines would have recovered 95% of their 2019 capacity in the transborder market.
Which routes will Aeromexico and Delta operate?
According to a press release seen by Simple Flying, Aeromexico and Delta plan to operate 46 routes between both countries in December. Aeromexico will fly the following routes:
- From Mexico City: Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando, San Antonio, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle
- From Guadalajara: Chicago, Fresno, Los Ángeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento
Aeromexico will operate 142 weekly flights to the US from Mexico City and 41 from Guadalajara. Meanwhile, the US routes from Monterrey, Leon, and Queretaro remain suspended.
These are the routes that Delta will operate:
- Atlanta: Cancun, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Los Cabos, and Puerto Vallarta
- Detroit: Cancun, Mexico City, and Los Cabos
- Los Angeles: Cancun, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Los Cabos, and Puerto Vallarta
- Minneapolis-St. Paul: Cancun, Los Cabos, and Puerto Vallarta
- New York: Cancun, Mexico City, and Los Cabos.
- Salt Lake City: Cancun, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Los Cabos, and Puerto Vallarta
- Seattle: Cancun and Los Cabos
- Boston, Cincinnati, and Raleigh-Durham: Cancun
The importance of Delta to Aeromexico
In May 2017, Delta and Aeromexico signed a Joint Cooperation Agreement. With this alliance, both companies consolidated their presence in the Mexico-US market. Before COVID-19, the Delta-Aeromexico alliance offered nearly 1,000 weekly flights with 20 daily roundtrip flights to Mexico City from Delta’s hubs. Additionally, the Delta codeshare was available on 72 routes to 38 cities in Mexico.Advertisement:https://0ddbc75c559ddb6da7ce6096d3d06c8d.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
Moreover, both companies gave access to the Delta Sky Clubs and Aeromexico Salon Premier Lounges for their premium members and passengers traveling in first class and business class.
Both companies are colocated at different hubs, like Mexico City, Los Angeles, JFK, Salt Lake City, and Seattle.Advertisement:https://0ddbc75c559ddb6da7ce6096d3d06c8d.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
Additionally, Delta holds a 49% investment in Aeromexico. It will be fascinating to see how the management in Aeromexico develops in the future, as Delta has 49% of the stake. Still, Global Apollo Management is backing up the US$1 billion DIP Financing of Aeromexico under its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Mexico-US market
While the Mexico-US market has had a strong rebound from the COVID-19 crisis, Aeromexico and Delta were at risk of falling behind. Between May and July, American Airlines had what it looked like a V-Shaped recovery, although in the later months, it has stalled. Despite that, American is still the largest airline operator between Mexico and the US.
In September, American had a 20% market share, followed by Volaris with 19.3%. Delta had a 13.3% market share while Aeromexico only had a 4.7%, according to Mexican Government stats. While the data is outdated, and the Mexican Government should soon update it, it shows a harsh reality. Delta and Aeromexico were having a more challenging time recovering the transborder market.
Aeromexico even temporarily exited some key hubs. For instance, it is not flying to Los Angeles and New York. It will retake these routes on 10 and 11 December, according to its website. Aeromexico is also not flying to Dallas Fort Worth, and Austin; it hasn’t announced when it will come back to these Texan cities.
Now, the two carriers will resume almost all their joint capacity by the end of the year. Hopefully, they will retake a larger market share, helping the rebuilt of the US-Mexico market.
Source: Simple Flying
