The Mexican carrier Aeromexico is set to reduce its presence at the new Mexico City Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU) starting in October. According to data offered by Cirium, the airline could reduce by 11.5% its number of monthly flights departing from NLU, eliminating 20.4% of the seats it offered.

Reducing flights?

In October 2023, Aeromexico is set to operate 823 monthly flights from the Felipe Ángeles International Airport. It will offer 94,875 seats from this airport on nine routes (eight domestic and one international to Houston).

According to the information provided by Cirium, the number of flights and seats is 11.5% and 20.4% lower than what Aeromexico operated in October last year. Simple Flying reached Aeromexico for comment. The airline declined to comment.

Photo: Guillermo Quiroz Martínez via @gquimar

Five routes will be impacted, although none will be canceled from the airline’s schedule. Aeromexico is reducing the flights from NLU to Mérida (MID), Guadalajara (GDL), Monterrey (MTY), Puerto Vallarta (PVR), and Oaxaca (OAX).

The route to Merida is set to have the most significant percentage reduction in terms of weekly flights and seats available. Aeromexico will go from 49 to 33 monthly flights on this route, reducing by 32.7% its schedule and capacity. On the other hand, Oaxaca will only see a 3.1% reduction, as only one flight will be scrapped from the airline’s schedule.

The services to Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Puerto Vallarta will see reductions of 30.1%, 29.3%, and 27.3% in the number of monthly flights. They will go from 93, 92, and 44 to 65, 65, and 32, respectively.

Is Felipe Ángeles going to have fewer flights overall?

Despite Aeromexico’s apparent capacity reduction in October, the Felipe Ángeles International Airport is set to have more flights this year than last year. It has 2,033 monthly scheduled passenger flights in October operated by six airlines. That’s an 11.6% increase versus October 2022.

Viva Aerobus and Volaris are set to increase their capacities at the new airport. Viva Aerobus will have the most significant year-on-year growth operating 492 monthly flights in October (99.2% increase versus last year).

What’s going on at the Felipe Ángeles?

The Felipe Ángeles International Airport is set to have a brand new carrier by December. Moreover, this airline is set to be based at NLU, operating exclusively from it. We are talking about the new Mexicana de Aviación, a project backed by the Mexican government.

Photo: Guillermo Quiroz Martínez via @gquimar

Mexicana de Aviación will be administered by the army, which also runs NLU. This airline will operate with a fleet of ten Boeing 737-800s and will offer flights to 20 domestic destinations starting this December. You can read more about the new airline’s plans in this article.

While some details remain scarce, the new Mexicana de Aviación could become, from the start, the leading operator at Felipe Ángeles. Nonetheless, there are doubts about the routes' viability, also served by Aeromexico, Volaris, and Viva Aerobus.

What do you think about Aeromexico removing capacity from the Felipe Ángeles International Airport? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Cirium.