Mexico City airport cancellation affects the competitiveness of its airline industry

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Chile, Panama, and Brazil are leading the Air Industry Competitiveness Index in Latin America, highlighting the level of infrastructure, technology, tax and fuel cost, among others, and where Mexico ranked fifth, due to the cancellation of the new Texcoco airport.

“It was no surprise to find that Chile leads the region, given that it has implemented policies to allow the entry of new competitors, the reduction of taxes for trips that have attracted more travelers and the technological adoption that has allowed the facilitation of many processes ” , this according to the measurement made by Amadeus and the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA).

The factors analyzed are infrastructure, taxes and fees, the facilitation of processes for passengers within airports, the release and opening of air transport, the predisposition of citizens of a country to travel and technology and digitalization.

Although Mexico highlighted the importance of strengthening secondary airports given that Mexico City International Airport (AICM) is saturated, the study recalled in 2009 there were 125 pairs of domestic cities that did not pass through this terminal, in 2018 it was almost 200 As for internationals, in 2009 there were 272 pairs that did not pass through the capital of the country, while in 2018 this figure was 356.

Mexico, which is the second largest market in the region, has achieved that both traditional (legacy) and low-cost airlines (LCC) attract thousands of travelers to the country’s secondary airports as It is Cancun.

“However, the fact that CDMX canceled the construction of its new airport was a lost opportunity to expand its competitiveness, losing the potential to become a much more important regional HUB,” reads the measurement made by ALTA and Amadeus.

Despite this, together with Brazil, they have done something very important, creating HUBs (connection centers) in cities other than the capital, thus reducing congestion and providing greater air efficiency with more direct routes.

For this new index, Amadeus and ALTA analyzed the aforementioned countries as well as Colombia that positioned itself above Mexico, while Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia, were the ones that occupied the last three places, with worse performance.

The Competitiveness Index was conducted to identify and analyze the different factors and conditions that affect the development of air operations in a group of Latin American countries and understand what conditions lead to growth, allow higher income levels and provide greater well-being for both industry and countries.

“Our goal is to continue performing this index every year and measure how different countries are improving in terms of competitive conditions for the airline industry , ” they said in the study.

While, in infrastructure, in Brazil, its liberalization and growth policies are key, in Argentina the government-industry work to grow domestic traffic and Peru and Bolivia, work on their growth potential.

“ Santiago de Chile has improved a lot during the last years, especially since the inauguration of the new terminal that has increased its connection with the world. Colombia, despite its strategic geographical location, must still grow in this area and in Bolivia the air infrastructure is very outdated, ” said the analysis.

The culmination of the work at the El Dorado Airport in Bogotá, which handles 47% of Colombian air traffic (occupying the first place in cargo volume in the region and the third passenger in Latin America), has brought great benefits such as driving Up to 90 operations per hour in the airspace of the Colombian capital.

The country that has the best performance when it comes to digitalization is again Chile and this has had a positive influence on the reduction of air transport costs and process facilitation, while countries such as Mexico or Argentina still show a clear lag and untapped potential.

With this index, it is made clear that in order to compete in the global market, the region has to continue growing, the infrastructure has to be improved since it is the first step to develop the industry and ensure that the traveler’s experience is successful, followed for the implementation of new technologies and innovation, which will ensure that the processes are fulfilled in the best way and will help to guarantee unique communications, as well as reduce taxes and prices to encourage the flow of passengers and streamline processes to reduce the times of waiting and traffic jams at the terminals.

Source: enelaire.mx

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