Tijuana International airport's cross-border bridge appears to be living up to its billing, with passenger traffic and aircraft movements up dramatically since the US connection opened in December 2015.
"The passenger traffic growth has been three times faster than at airports in Mexico City and Cancun," says Tomas Ramirez Vargas, chief commercial officer of operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP). "There is no airport in the top 10 airports in Mexico that is growing at a higher percentage than Tijuana."
Passenger traffic at Tijuana was up 31% to 4.53 million during the first nine months of 2016, the operator's data shows. This compares with a 5.6% year-over-year increase during the same period in 2015.
GAP expects Tijuana to handle 6.2 million passengers this year, a 30% increase from 2015, says Ramirez.
Two things are driving Tijuana’s tremendous growth: the new Cross Border Xpress (CBX) bridge to the USA – the first of its kind across the US-Mexico border – and Mexico's booming low-cost carriers.
BRIDGING MARKETS
Not even a year since the opening on 9 December 2015, one in five of Tijuana's passengers uses the CBX bridge, says Ramirez. GAP hopes to increase this to nearly two in five passengers by the end of 2017.
Edward Russell
The bridge connects Tijuana airport's passenger terminal with a privately owned and operated terminal on the San Diego side of the border, about 35km south of the city centre. It eliminates the need for a taxi ride to the public border crossing and a potentially hours-long wait to cross.
Departing passengers can use CBX within 24h of their flight, and arriving passengers within a short window after arrival.
Migrant workers and visiting-friends-and-relatives (VFR) traffic that have regularly used Tijuana airport are the primary users of the bridge, says Ramirez. However, it is increasingly drawing a new cohort of passengers to the airport: US leisure travellers.
"We are starting to see, for the first time, residents of the San Diego area using Tijuana airport for leisure purposes," he says.
Cancun and Los Cabos are the primary destinations for these travellers, adds Ramirez. Seats are scheduled to increase 18% to Cancun and 79% to Los Cabos in the fourth quarter compared with a year ago, according to schedules data from Diio, part of FlightGlobal.
The largest carrier in Tijuana, Volaris, is providing much of the new capacity in both markets. The low-cost airline has added frequencies to both Cancun and Los Cabos, while Aeromexico launched Tijuana-Los Cabos flights in May, the data shows.
Volaris says the CBX bridge "enhances the travel experience of our customers".
Aeromexico, Interjet, Volaris and VivaAerobus all have counters in the CBX terminal on the US side of the border that allow passengers to check in for their flights.
Seats to other popular Mexican beach destinations are also rising. Mazatlaan will see 24% more seats and Puerto Vallarta 11% more in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago, Diio shows.
CBX is replacing some air services from nearby San Diego International airport. Volaris ended the airport's only service to Mexico City in September, and Diio shows that seat capacity will be down 16% to Los Cabos and 10% to Puerto Vallarta, year-over-year, in the fourth quarter.
LCC BOOM
The rapid expansion of Mexican LCCs is also contributing to the traffic boom at Tijuana, says Ramirez.
"Low-cost carriers are changing the way Mexicans travel," he notes. "They are changing from the bus to the plane. This is creating a very interesting environment for airports."
Seats on Volaris are scheduled to increase 19% to 2.55 million year-over-year in 2016, while Aeromexico will be up 23% at nearly 679,000 seats, Interjet up 11.9% at just under 411,000 seats and VivaAerobus up nearly 13-fold at 247,000 seats, Diio shows. The dramatic growth of VivaAerobus reflects the fact that it only entering the market in November 2015.
Volaris is growing primarily by shifting to Airbus A321s from A319s and A320s, says Ramirez. They have also added frequencies in some markets.
Aeromexico has also grown by increasing aircraft gauge. For example, the carrier is operating 41% more widebodies, particularly the Boeing 787, on its flights to Tijuana, Diio shows.
Mexican regional carriers are also offering more flights to Tijuana that cater to migrant workers and VFR traffic, says Ramirez. Aereo Calafia and TAR Aerolineas added new services to Loreto and Puerto Penasco, respectively, this year, FlightGlobal schedules data shows.
INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGES
Landing new international flights in Tijuana remains a challenge. Aeromexico continues to develop its Asia network from Monterrey and Mexico City, announcing in October that it would launch Seoul Incheon flights – a route Ramirez says Tijuana was actively pushing for on SkyTeam partner Korean Air – from the two Mexican cities in 2017.
"We need to reassess and calibrate our current proposal to Korean [Air], as we need to evaluate whether there is market size to host two operators in the same country," he said following the route announcement. However, he adds that Aeromexico's new Seoul route is not finalised and points out that San Diego and Tijuana combined have roughly 30% more origin-and-destination traffic to Seoul than Monterrey.
Hainan Airlines to Beijing is another possible route for Tijuana. GAP is speaking with the carrier on a "daily basis" and working with them to complete the approvals process in Mexico, says Ramirez.
The carrier applied to Chinese regulators for authority to offer Beijing-Tijuana-Mexico City flights in 2016.
However, Hainan's US executive director Joel Chusid said in September that, while the CBX bridge did expand the catchment area of the Tijuana airport, the length of its runway and the airline's inability to carry local passengers between Tijuana and Mexico City were drawbacks as regards entering the market.
"It's very important to consider the true value of Tijuana is based on... access to San Diego and the southern California market" as well as connectivity to more of Mexico than, for example, Mexico City, says Ramirez on the airport's international ambitions.
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Source: Cirium Dashboard
