Mexico's three major airport operators have reported steep drops in their May traffic, including a 51% drop at Cancun-based ASUR, due to the H1N1 flu outbreak.
Airports across Mexico saw their traffic drop by up to 56%. The largest declines were in Cancun and other resort destinations.
According to Cancun airport operator ASUR, traffic in Cancun dropped 55% last month from 1.065 million passengers to only 482,000 passengers.
Cancun, which has the second largest airport in Mexico after Mexico City, has been affected more than other Mexican airports because its traffic consists mainly of international tourists. The sudden outbreak of swine flu at the end of April prompted nearly all North Americans and Europeans planning holidays in Mexico to cancel or postpone their trips, forcing all the carriers serving Cancun to slash capacity or suspend service altogether.
International traffic in Cancun was down 63% in May from 752,000 passengers to only 279,000 passengers. Domestic traffic was down 35% from 314,000 passengers to 203,000 passengers as some Mexicans also cancelled May holidays after the flu outbreak was first reported.
Nearby Cozumel and Merida also were hit hard, with Cozumel reporting a 56% drop in traffic to 21,000 passengers and Merida reporting a 46% drop to 63,000 passengers. ASUR, which operates nine airports in southeast Mexico, overall saw traffic drop across its portfolio by 51% from 1.506 million passengers to 742,000 passengers.
Another large Mexican airport group, OMA, has reported a 40% drop in traffic for May across its portfolio of 13 airports in northern Mexico to 753,000 passengers. Traffic at OMA's largest airport, Monterrey, was down 44% to 347,000 passengers.
OMA says traffic was down 55% across its portfolio during the first week of May but steadily improved as demand began to slowly recover. For the second week of the month traffic was down by 43%, for the third week by 41% and in the final week only by 27%.
Mexican carriers have reported in the last couple of weeks a return to normal demand in the domestic market although international demand continues to be weak as some tourists are still reluctant to holiday in Mexico.
Mexico's third major airport operator, GAP, reported a 37% drop in traffic for May to 1.2 million passengers. Traffic at its largest airport, Guadalajara, fell 34% to 412,000 passengers. GAP operates 12 airports across western Mexico.
GAP says Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta, two popular beach resorts with higher concentrations of international traffic, were hit hardest. Puerto Vallarta traffic fell 53% to 121,000 passengers while Los Cabos traffic dropped 41% to 153,000 passengers.
While ASUR, OMA and GAP are all publicly traded companies, Mexico City International is operated by government-controlled company AICM.
AICM does not regularly publish traffic results but reportedly traffic at Mexico City International was down by about 50% in May.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
