Mexico's airlines hope to recover some of their losses, passenger wth end-of-the-year promotions

By Elizabeth Ferguson
CNNExpansión.com

The holiday season is here and with it Mexico's airlines are making a final push to try to offset a horrible year in which they encountered a fuel increase, the economic crisis, an erosion of Mexico's image because of the drug war and the A/H1N1 flu outbreak.

To mitigate their losses, airline companies have created promotional strategies to increase passenger flow during the December holidays and into next year.

Aeroméxico, for example, has launched several reduced fare promotions throughout December called "Celebrating Christmas with your Family is Irresistible." It also is offering lower-cost tickets good for three to 10 months if purchased before Dec. 18.

Mexicana, at the same time, has launched a "Grand Christmas Sale" offering 40 percent discounts on flights from international destinations like Los Angeles, La Vegas, Chicago, San Francisco and San Antonio.

"The market for commercial airlines in Mexico was depressed by the high costs of fuel a few years ago and this impacted the prices charged customers," said Gerardo Aparicio, a specialist in economics and finance at the Universidad Panamericana.

Foreigners who travel to Mexico to escape the cold, Mexicans returning home and the holiday season are the targets of numerous promotions that airlines are introducing, said industry analyst Fernando Gomez.

In the past six months, airlines also have been adding additional routes, which should help them gain more passengers with vacation packages in hopes of bringing ridership up to levels before the spring influenza outbreak, Banamex Accival noted in a report.

In 2010, the report said, the stabilization of the domestic airline industry and the absence of another flu outbreak could help the sector's recovery.

Mexico's airlines are expected to lose a total of $11 billion in 2009, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Next year, the loss might decrease to $5.6 billion, mainly because of high fuel costs.

As of October this year, Mexico's airlines have transported 20.31 million passengers on domestic flights and international routes, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Communications and Transport.

The airlines "have to continue to attract the traditional market that appears at the end of the year," said Gomez. "And they need the new partnerships they have formed recently with groups of international airlines to give them better prospects next year than last year."

The analyst said that the current promotions should help capture an international market that Mexico lost this season to  countries like Brazil, Costa Rica and even Argentina.

www.cnnexpansion.com/negocios/2009/12/15/aerolineas-despegan-con-las-ofertas