- Aeromexico will operate to Mexico City three times a week from December 15th
- New route will boost trade
- But connectivity crunch meant Aeromexico had to wait four years for their slot
2012-10-22 — /travelprnews.com/ — Aeromexico has been awarded slots between Heathrow and Mexico City, one of the eight largest emerging markets in the world. From December 15th, there will be three flights a week operating from Terminal 4. AeroMexico’s airlines operate over 550 daily flights to 45 cities in Mexico, as well as cities in the United States, Canada, Central and South America, as well as Europe and Asia.
As the balance of economic growth shifts from the developed world to emerging markets, it’s increasingly important for the UK to be connected by air to markets to remain an attractive place to invest and do business. Yet despite Mexico’s position as Latin America’s second largest economy, Britain currently supplies less than one percent of its imports. Better flight connections will therefore be vital in helping Britain meet its pledge to double bilateral trade with Mexico to $4.2 billion by 2015.
The deal has also taken four years to come to fruition, with Heathrow first talking to Aeromexico in 2008. Because Heathrow is full, operating at 99.2% of its permitted capacity, Aeromexico has had to wait for suitable take-off and landing slots to become available from other airlines before it has been able to add the new route to its roster. In the meantime, the UK has missed out on jobs, trade and economic growth because of the Government’s cap on flights at the UK’s only hub. The new slots mean that Heathrow can now offer seven flights per week in total to Mexico City, compared to Madrid ‘s 19 flights and Charles de Gaulle’s 14.
Other airlines from major emerging economies would like to add new routes to Heathrow, but are unable to do so because of a lack of take-off and landing slots. A report by Frontier Economics found that there were twenty-one emerging market destinations with daily flights from continental European hubs but not from Heathrow. This lack of connectivity is estimated to be costing the economy £1.2bn a year in lost trade.
Colin Matthews, Chief Executive Officer of Heathrow said:
“We are delighted that Aeromexico is coming to Heathrow, and we would like to welcome more flights that could bring growth and jobs to the UK. The centre of gravity in the world economy is shifting and Britain should be forging new links with economies like Mexico. But with this single deal taking four years to complete, the UK’s lack of hub airport capacity is causing us to fall further behind the rest of Europe.”
Andres Conesa, Aeromexico´s CEO said:
“Our new flight to Heathrow is a great achievement for Aeromexico and represents clear evidence of the development of the Mexican airline industry. We are confident that our operations will have a significant positive effect for both economies and will strength our financial and cultural relationship. We are also glad to announce that the route will operate in 2013 with our first Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the newest, best most efficient aircraft ever built”.
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