Volaris looks south for growth as Mexico’s domestic airline market recovers

Mexican discounter Volaris is grabbing growth opportunities at home and venturing further south in Latin America as travel rebounds from the Covid-19 pandemic. The airline plans to add 25 Airbus A320neo family aircraft to its fleet by the end of 2022, when it anticipates flying 113 planes total, fueling elevated capacity growth that will surpass pre-crisis levels. These planes will allow Volaris to increase its share in the key Mexico City market; expand in other Mexican cities, particularly Guadalajara and Tijuana; and launch a new subsidiary in El Salvador. “We’re one of the most profitable airlines worldwide with room to grow,” said CEO Enrique Beltranena during a quarterly earnings call on Friday. The airline reported a rare pandemic profit free of government aid of MXP1.54b ($78m) in Q2. Domestic Mexican growth is Volaris’ top priority over the next year-and-a-half. The carrier has the unique opportunity to fill the gap left by Interjet, which suspended flights in December 2020 and few expect to resume operations, and cuts at Aeromexico that is restructuring under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Volaris is actively adding flights in slot-constrained Mexico City where, as executive vice president Holger Blankenstein put it, they see the “biggest capacity gap compared to pre-Covid levels.”<br/>