Bar chart comparing percentage change in passengers served by airlines versus 2019, showing low-cost carriers are flying high in the post-pandemic era | Sources: Companies' Earnings, Latinometrics
Viva Aerobus Flies Far Away From Pandemic Troubles

Mexican airlines lost 51% of their 2019 passenger counts in 2020. But in the post-pandemic era, Low-Cost Carriers are flying high.

It's no secret that the airline industry encountered turbulence during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Previous to the crisis, there were questions regarding the profitability of complex legacy airlines in contrast to the simple and efficient operations of LCCs and ULCCs (Low-Cost Carriers and Ultra Low-Cost Carriers). Since they both began operations in 2006, newcomers Viva Aerobus and Volaris have flown high and managed to capture most of the new passenger volume in Mexico. Meanwhile, traditional airlines remained grounded with stagnant yearly passenger counts. Come 2021, this trend remained the same.

With an efficiency inspired by the Ryanair model, Viva Aerobus and Volaris (let's call them V&V) managed to weather the storm and capture the industry's lost market once safety regulations were rescinded. Meanwhile, other less profitable airlines have struggled to fly back to base. In 2017, V&V had a 3.2 and 4.3 CASK (Cost per Available Seat Kilometer in U.S. Cents), while Grupo AM had a 6.1 CASK. CASK is used to measure operational efficiencies for aircraft carriers.

V&V have also been more effective at filling their aircraft with passengers, making their flights more profitable. Beginning in 2017, they managed to keep their average passengers per flight flown ratio to approximately 156 in national flights, while Aeromexico managed a maximum average of 123 in 2018. Of course, Aeromexico's fleet includes various aircraft models, some smaller than V&V's standard Airbus 320 and 321s. But the wider array of models is also an added source of complexity and operational expenditure in maintenance, inventory, and personnel.

In absolute terms, Aeromexico had been the leader in passengers flown up to 2019, with 20.5 Million passengers flown. After a severe crash to 9.4 million in 2020, it lost that title to Volaris. So far this year (first 3 quarters), Volaris (22.6 M) remains the market leader, followed by Aeromexico (15.6M) and then Viva (14.9 M), threateningly rising to take second place soon.

P.S. We apologize for the jumbo-sized amount of airplane puns…

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