Mexican Vacation

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October 6th, 2015 at 7:55:12 AM permalink
Nareed
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Quote: Pacomartin
These four airlines are similar, in that they have similar fleets. They also are trying to expand the Low Cost Airline concept to the international North American market. A big component is the US-Mexican flights.


Out of curiosity the other day I priced flights to Vegas on both Interjet and Volaris. Interjet has lots more legroom, complimentary snacks and a 50 kilo allowance for checked bags. Volaris has nothing like that. Adding one checked bag on Volaris, 35 kg. max, and nothing else (ie no snacks, no exit row or bulkhead seat) the prices were about the same.

The only differences are frequencies. Volaris flies daily, Interjet only on Sundays and Thursdays, plus Volaris flights from MEX and Interjet from TLC. If I had to get to Vegas tomorrow on business (that'll be the day!) I'd take Volaris. On vacation, Interjet is easy to schedule and much more pleasant to fly.

But the writing on the wall is clear. The Volaris model means bigger market share, while Interjet will develop a loyal, but smaller, fan base.

BTW Jet Blue's begun flying to MEX City from Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.
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October 6th, 2015 at 9:31:29 AM permalink
Pacomartin
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Quote: Nareed
But the writing on the wall is clear. The Volaris model means bigger market share, while Interjet will develop a loyal, but smaller, fan base.


Certainly the lower cost airline with more seats per plane will end up carrying more passengers. But Volaris has to retire it's older A319's, while Interjet has none. Volaris only has 9 A320ceos and 30 A320-neos on order while Interjet has 40 A320-neos . The "ceo" is the current design and the "neo" is the updated more efficient design.

Type Volaris Interjet
Sukhoi Superjet 100/95 15
Airbus A319-100 18
Airbus A320-200 35 42
Airbus A321-200 2
Total 55 57


Volaris is really not very profitable. While that is not particularly shocking for an expanding airline, their numbers eventually must get better.
Since Interjet is a private company they don't report their financial information.

I don't think you can count anyone out. A lot depends on the new airport. There are so many American and Canadian airlines competing for the flights to Mexico from USA and Canada, that a lot depends on having the infrastructure to grow the domestic market.
October 6th, 2015 at 10:11:46 AM permalink
Nareed
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Quote: Pacomartin
Certainly the lower cost airline will end up carrying more passengers. But Volaris has to retire it's older A319's.


According to all the early hype when they launched, they had all new planes in 2005. Ergo they're only ten years old at most , though they see plenty of cycles every day. Maybe they've aged too quickly.

Quote:
I don't think you can count anyone out. A lot depends on the new airport. There are so many American and Canadian airlines competing for the flights to Mexico from USA and Canada, that a lot depends on having the infrastructure to grow the domestic market.


I used to think they'd need wide bodies for some of the longer routes. But the flight tracking app I've been playing with has taught me differently. Can you believe flights from LAX to panama on a 737?? Dallas to Bogota on an A-320? And the less I say of the last 757s plying the Atlantic the better.

I know economy pretty much is economy in any plane, but in a wide body there's more room (duh) to walk around on long flights. There are areas by the mid-fuselage galleys and lavatories to gather with two or three people and chat. On a narrow body there's a bit of room at the back, yes, by the exit, but if the cart is out the aisle is blocked for the duration.
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October 6th, 2015 at 10:42:30 AM permalink
Wizard
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I wish anybody flew directly from Vegas to any coastal city in Mexico. There used to direct flights to Cabo San Lucas but no more.
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October 6th, 2015 at 11:01:31 AM permalink
Nareed
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I wonder if there is a niche market to fly people between vacation/resort towns. Things like Cancun-Vegas, or Orlando-St. Marten, and such.

Probably not.

But maybe with really tiny planes?

The problem there is regional planes (previously known as commuter planes) have evolved to take over the small jet niche vacated by Boeing when it did away with the 727 and MD80 (aka B717).
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October 6th, 2015 at 11:52:15 AM permalink
Pacomartin
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Quote: Nareed
According to all the early hype when they launched, they had all new planes in 2005. Ergo they're only ten years old at most , though they see plenty of cycles every day. Maybe they've aged too quickly.


The A319s were delivered between 01. Mar 2006 - 27. Aug 2010. Volaris commenced operations in 2005. The planes are not too old, but since they expected to be operating out of Toluca they now need larger planes to be more efficient using Mexico City airport.

Quote: Nareed
I used to think they'd need wide bodies for some of the longer routes. But the flight tracking app I've been playing with has taught me differently. Can you believe flights from LAX to panama on a 737?? Dallas to Bogota on an A-320?


The new 737 max hopes to be delivered on the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the 737 (April 9, 1967). It has a stated range of 7038 km (Miami to London is 7100 km). The A319neo will have a range of 7,800 km. but the Mexican airliners are all ordering the shorter distance, more seats A320neo.

So 737's will be flying from USA to Europe (but not Mexico to Europe). Mexico is not deviating from it's widebody strategy of Aeromexico fleet of Dreamliners.

So while Interjet competes with Aeromexico on Havana, Varadero, Guatemala City, San Jose CR, and Bogota in the future they will be able to compete on Medellín (MDE), Quito (UIO), Lima (LIM), Caracas (CCS) and possibly Santiago (SCL).

Aeromexico is now flying to Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver (Starting December 9th, 2015) to compete with the increasing nonstop traffic flown by Canadian Low cost airlines.

Aeromexico has now retired their fleet of B767s and is operating 4 B777s and 8 Boeing 787-8s. But they are going to acquire 7-12 more widebodies and eventually an entire replacement fleet of narrowbodies. Aeromexico takes you to 44 destinations in Mexico and 37 international. Personally, I think a state airline should be limited to 10 major domestic destinations, and they should enter into codeshares with smaller destinations. It encourages competition.
October 6th, 2015 at 12:24:07 PM permalink
DRich
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Quote: Wizard
I wish anybody flew directly from Vegas to any coastal city in Mexico. There used to direct flights to Cabo San Lucas but no more.


I thought Volaris started last year flying directly from LAS to Cancun. Maybe I am mistaken or they already cancelled it.
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October 6th, 2015 at 12:32:43 PM permalink
Nareed
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Quote: Pacomartin
The A319s were delivered between 01. Mar 2006 - 27. Aug 2010. Volaris commenced operations in 2005. The planes are not too old, but since they expected to be operating out of Toluca they now need larger planes to be more efficient using Mexico City airport.


Ok.

Quote:
So 737's will be flying from USA to Europe


That's just criminal. I can't imagine being cooped up on a short narrow body for 10 hours or more.

Quote:
So while Interjet competes with Aeromexico on Havana, Varadero, Guatemala City, San Jose CR, and Bogota in the future they will be able to compete on Medellín (MDE), Quito (UIO), Lima (LIM), Caracas (CCS) and possibly Santiago (SCL).


See above. Havana is not that far, less than 4 hours from MEX if I can trust my incredibly inaccurate eye-ball estimate. The rest ought to be wide body flights.

MEX-LAS is about 3:30 3:45 hours. At the end I'm eager to get out. After 10 hours I'd be day-dreaming about padded cells.

Quote:
Personally, I think a state airline should be limited to 10 major domestic destinations, and they should enter into codeshares with smaller destinations. It encourages competition.


It's not a state airline. It was privatized, to much fanfare, several years ago, along with the late Mexicana. The state might have retained some shares, but most are in the hands of private citizens.

Interjet and Volaris encourage competition. Yesterday I prized flights to Hermosillo. Interjet's was lower by 700 pesos, or about $40-$45 US. Considering Interjet has more legroom, Aeromexico is much more expensive.

You know, I haven't flown Volaris in years. I must have flown them after I went to Vegas with them in 2012, but offhand I can't recall.

Interjet has been expanding its domestic routes, too. Partly that's why they adopted the Superjet. What they don't do is offer flights with connections. In their website they only list direct flights. Of course, some connections offered by Aeromexico and Volaris are absurd. I recall once a flight to San Luis Potosi was routed through Tijuana. That's an over 7 hour flight to go under 400 kilometers.
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October 6th, 2015 at 1:34:39 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Quote: Nareed
What they don't do is offer flights with connections. In their website they only list direct flights.


I believe that Allegiant is the only airline in the USA that does not sell connections. Their business model is all based on flying from small airports to 16 vacation destinations (Las Vegas is their main hub).

But even the smallest airline in the USA has multiple hubs. Alaska is the closest to a single hub airline (Seattle), but they also have hubs in Portland, Anchorage, and Los Angeles. But Interjet is not likely to expand in Monterrey or Guadalajara and offer connections.

I don't understand why they wouldn't offer connections in Mexico City (if you wanted to fly from Monterrey to Oaxaca City)? I think you mean they don't offer connections if you start from MC.

October 6th, 2015 at 1:57:14 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Pacomartin
I don't understand why they wouldn't offer connections in Mexico City (if you wanted to fly from Monterrey to Oaxaca City)? I think you mean they don't offer connections if you start from MC.


You know, I never thought of that.

Still, if you see the map, there are few flights direct from Monterrey or Guadalajara as compared to flights direct from MEX. Wait one..... Ok. I went to their website and looked up MTY to Carmen. It does offer a connection through MEX.

I think you have to be really, really bright to feel so stupid for missing such an obvious point ;)
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