By Juan Pedro Sanchez Zamudio
Volaris Closes July with Positive Numbers, Seeks to Compete with Buses
According to the Mexican Stock Exchange, Volaris was the only airline to post positive results in the second quarter. The airline also ended the period from April-June reporting 1.5 billion pesos ($68.2 million) in revenue, which represents a fall in its revenues of 81.7% compared to the same period in 2019.
However, the airline has shown a greater recovery not only with the increase in its market share but also with the launch of new routes.
According to Reforma, Volaris transported 996,000 passengers in July, which represents 50.3% less than the same month of 2019. As mentioned by ALNNEWS, between April and June, the airline transported 46.4% of the total air passengers in the country, compared to 27.9% for its closest competitor. In international traffic, Volaris transported 62.5% of total passengers, according to data from the Federal Civil Aviation Agency.
In a recent interview with Forbes, Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranena announced that the strategy for the recovery after the COVID-19 crisis will be to capture bus passengers. The airline will work on three core goals: strengthening its traffic to people who plan to visit family and friends; increasing market share among leisure tourists, especially those pressured by prices and attracting bus travelers.
According to Enrique Beltranena, 40% of the airline’s routes only compete with buses, as no airline offers service on that same route. In addition, its prices allow it to be competitive with ground transportation, but the airline also offers the advantage of shorter travel times.
“We have been working at the bus stations in a mainly educational campaign regarding the risk of using the buses and that we have approximately 40,000 tickets that we will be using in the next three or four months to offer the exchange of a bus ticket for a plane one,” Beltranena said. “We are really pushing in price terms, directly competing with the price of buses”.
According to Forbes, Volaris closed 2019 with practically a tie for first place in market share against Aeroméxico, which had been the historical leader in the Mexican market. However, so far in 2020 — and especially during the last quarter — Volaris has become the largest Mexican carrier.
Volaris announced on Twitter this month that it will operate 141 routes, which includes 20 destinations in the U.S. and 41 domestic routes, comprising 284 total daily operations. In the middle of July, the carrier announced tickets up to 80% discount, offered with the goal of fulfilling their third tenet of competing with buses.
The three things Juan loves most about aviation are aircraft, airports, and traveling thousands of miles in just a few hours. What he enjoys the most about aviation is that it is easier and cheaper to travel around the world and this gives you the opportunity to visit places you thought were too far away. He has traveled to different destinations in North, Central, South America and Asia. Born, raised and still living in Perú, Juan is a lawyer, soccer lover, foodie, passionate traveler, dog lover, millennial and curious by nature.
