Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, S.A.B. de C.V. (OMAB) reported a 12.5% decrease in passenger traffic at its 13 airports in February 2010, compared to February 2009. Domestic and international traffic declined 13.4% and 8.7%, respectively.
Domestic traffic grew at three airports: Chihuahua, Culiacan and San Luis Potosi. Traffic at the Chihuahua and Culiacan airports benefited from increases on the routes to Guadalajara. Traffic in San Luis Potosi increased because of growth on the Monterrey route.
However, a huge reduction at the Mexico City route pushed domestic traffic into the negative. The Monterrey, Acapulco, and Tampico airports had the largest traffic reductions of 13.4%, 27.9% and 31.2%, respectively.
The suspension of Aviacsa (suspended since July 6, 2009) also affected all three airports. In addition, Acapulco and Tampico traffic were affected by a reduction in traffic carried by Interjet.
International traffic recorded growth at four airports. Noteworthy was the growth in traffic at the Zacatecas airport en route to Los Angeles. The Tampico, Durango, and Chihuahua airports grew traffic on their routes to Houston.
The airports that had the largest reductions in international passenger traffic were the tourist destination airports. Acapulco and Zihuatanejo were affected by a decrease in charter traffic; Mazatlan was affected by reductions on the routes to Los Angeles and Houston.
The total number of flight operations (takeoffs and landings) in the month decreased 0.9% compared to the prior-year period.
This decrease in passenger traffic was due to the ongoing global economic crisis as well as the health alert resulting from the A/H1N1 virus epidemic in April and May 2009. This caused temporary cancellations and severe reduction of flights. In the midst of economic difficulties, we believe that the cost control policy will drive growth in future.
Read the full analyst report on “OMAB”
Zacks Investment Research
