AEROMEXICO HAS emerged from a critical year with its financial restructuring safely in place and its losses apparently under control.
The Mexican carrier, which came close to collapse during 1995, reports that net losses ended the year at 173 million pesos ($23 million). That compares to more than 3.4 billion pesos in 1994.
The improvement stems in part from the recovery of the Mexican peso, which went into free-fall after the country's financial crisis of a year ago. AeroMexico says that the US dollar exchange rate affects domestic fares and that the peso's recovery showed through in a 21% increase in passenger yields.
AeroMexico also successfully saw through its debt restructuring, which roughly halved liabilities, to 3.2 billion pesos. The fleet was reduced to 51 aircraft, with three aging McDonnell Douglas DC-10s removed and two leased MD-82s returned.
The result of cutbacks took seat capacity down by 13% and overall group costs down by nearly 4%. Passenger traffic also fell by 14%, with the worst drop coming in Mexico's depressed domestic market. This was offset by the rise in yields, however, helping revenues to stay at around 6 billion pesos.
Source: Flight International
