On Friday, March 11th, Moody’s affirmed Mexico City Airport Trust NAFIN F/80460 (MEXCAT) Senior Secured Notes (Notes) ratings of Baa3 have changed the rating outlook to stable.
The outlook was changed to Stable from Negative. The rating affirmation and outlook stabilization reflect MEXCAT’s traffic recovery and solid liquidity position.
Furthermore, it incorporates Moody’s expectation that the upcoming opening of Felipe Ángeles airport will not have a material impact on the pace of MEXCAT’s passenger traffic recovery in the next 12-18 months.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a material drop in passengers to approximately 22.0 million from 50.4 million in 2019 or a 56% reduction.
Passenger traffic has been gradually recovering and as of December 2021, traffic reported was equivalent to 90% of December 2019 traffic. On a yearly basis, traffic in 2021 was equivalent to 72% of what was reported in 2019 (roughly 36 million passengers).
Moody’s expectations regarding passenger levels consider a gradual reversion from the declining trend to close to a full recovery towards 2023.
For 2022, we expect traffic to stabilize around 40 million passengers, driven by the continuation of post-pandemic recovery but partially offset by the Felipe Angeles airport, a repurposed military airport located around 54 kilometers from MEXCAT that will start operations this month.
Source: Moody’s
