Pilots claim that the government-linked holding company is using its ownership of both carriers to favour Aeromexico. Meanwhile, the Mexican federal competition commission has renewed calls to dismantle Cintra and separate the two airlines.
Prompted by a need to upgrade fleets at both Aeromexico and Mexicana, Cintra's chief finance officer, Guillermo Turincio, has revealed plans to raise more than $250 million later this year through a public float. If existing shares are sold, this would represent about 25% of Cintra's equity.
The plan has provoked anger from Mexico's pilots' union. Union officials cite the recent decision to switch Mexicana's Denver flights to winter-only services, cancellation of its Cancun flights to Newark, Lima and Bogota, and a number of domestic cutbacks. Airline officials reply that these are responses to changing markets and say Mexicana has added eight more aircraft and 10 new cities in the past three years.
Of more concern to Cintra are the commission's renewed calls to separate the airlines and to block any IPO that tries to proceed before that is achieved. So far, the commission has avoided a showdown with the secretary for communications and transport, who favours keeping Cintra intact. But the commission seems to have launched an offensive to break this impasse.
At a recent Mexico City conference, the commission and a number of air transport experts, including Alfred Kahn, former head of the US Civil Aeronautics Board and a champion of US deregulation, called for Cintra's break-up. One of the five commissioners, however, reportedly wants to keep Cintra together and he works for Mexico's President Zedillo.
Source: Airline Business
