Mexico’s low-cost Volaris tracks ‘strongest recovery’ in the industry

Mexican ultra-low-cost carrier Volaris is on track for one of the fastest recoveries in the industry even though the coronavirus continued to drag on results in Q4 2020, the airline said Friday. In December, Volaris’ capacity (in available seat miles) was up 102% year-on-year. Its load factor during the fourth quarter for domestic flights was 83.5%, and for international flights was 72%, bringing that number overall to 80%. “The capacity and load factor represents one of the fastest recoveries of any airline worldwide,” says Holger Blankenstein, the airline’s executive VP responsible for commercial operations. The carrier says revenue for the final quarter of the year was Ps8b ($392m), compared to Ps9.7b a year earlier, a decline of 16.7%. Revenue for the year was Ps22.2b, down 36% from 2019. Profit in the quarter fell to Ps897 million, down about 30% from Ps1.3b in 2019. For the full year 2020, the airline posted a net loss of Ps4.3b. During the quarter that ended in December, Volaris says it began operating two new domestic and seven new international routes. The airline transported a total of 14.7m passengers in 2020.<br/>