Airport reviews

September 21st, 2014 at 6:03:15 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Nareed
Out of curiosity I checked United's web site for their schedule to Carmen.

There's one daily flight to/from Houston. the price is over $1,000 US.

I'm speechless.

Aeromexico is about $300 cheaper at $753, while the UA nonstop is $1,053. The United flight is operated by JetExpress who flies regional jets for United, Delta, and American. But they have most of the nonstops from Houston on United Express using planes with no more than 76 seats, but more normally closer to 50. They are always very expensive.

Express jets go from Houston to:
Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Cincinnati, Ciudad del Carmen, Durango, Huatulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, León/Del Bajío, Manzanillo, Morelia, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Saltillo, Tampico, Torreón/Gómez Palacio, Veracruz, Villahermosa and Monterrey, along with Mexico City, Guadalajara.

Full size UAL jets go from Houston to:
Cancun, Mexico
Cozumel, Mexico
Guadalajara, Mexico
Merida, Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
San Jose del Cabo, Mexico

I often wonder why people pay those astronomical prices, as very often they have to fly to Houston to change planes. From most major US cities there are flights to Mexico City, they can change planes there to go to the smaller airports.

AeroMexico has flights to Mexico City from
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Houston, TX
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Miami, FL
New York, NY
Orlando, FL
San Francisco, CA
Washington, DC

Interjet now flies to Mexico City from
Miami, FL
New York, NY
San Antonio, TX
Santa Ana, CA

Volaris flies to Mexico City from
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Orlando, FL
Phoenix, AZ
San Diego, CA

As near as I can figure out people are terrified of Mexico City, and many of them are on business. Their companies don't push a Mexican airline, and they pay those prices.
September 21st, 2014 at 6:45:02 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
USA airlines made out pretty big with the collapse of Mexicana. Expressjet is making a lot more revenue with those 50K customers in a month, compared to Volaris with 58K customers (mostly VFR or visiting friends and relatives).

Recent Month (ingoing to Mexico only)
  1. 228,953 American Airlines Inc. & US Airways Inc.
  2. 193,306 United Air Lines Inc.
  3. 137,181 Delta Air Lines Inc.
  4. 112,341 Aeromexico <=======
  5. 75,313 Alaska Airlines Inc.
  6. 58,054 Concesionaria Vuela Compania De Aviacion SA de CV (Volaris) <=======
  7. 51,489 AirTran Airways Corporation
  8. 50,889 ExpressJet Airlines Inc.
  9. 43,163 Frontier Airlines Inc.
  10. 24,238 Sun Country Airlines d/b/a MN Airlines
  11. 20,233 JetBlue Airways
  12. 19,023 Aerolitoral <=======
  13. 16,147 ABC Aerolineas SA de CV dba Interjet <=======
  14. 16,140 Spirit Air Lines
  15. 13,711 Envoy Air
  16. 8,850 SkyWest Airlines Inc.
  17. 6,676 Virgin America
  18. 3,724 Mesa Airlines Inc.
  19. 2,223 Horizon Air
  20. 2,156 Aeroenlaces Nacionales, S.A. de C.V. d/b/a VivaAerobus <=======
  21. 1,050 Falcon Air Express
  22. 827 Miami Air International
  23. 199 Atlas Air Inc.
  24. 116 Caribbean Sun Airlines, Inc. d/b/a World Atlantic Airlines
  25. 42 Aerovias Nacl De Colombia
  26. 8 Avjet Corporation
  27. 4 TAG Aviation (UK) Ltd.
  28. 4 TAG Aviation Espana S.L.
September 22nd, 2014 at 6:00:13 AM permalink
terapined
Member since: Aug 6, 2014
Threads: 73
Posts: 11786
Aeromexico just came into our office last week.
The big new they had is that there is going to major upgrade to their facilities at MTY due to increased business at that airport.
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own - Grateful Dead "Eyes of the World"
September 22nd, 2014 at 6:19:19 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: terapined
Aeromexico just came into our office last week.
The big new they had is that there is going to major upgrade to their facilities at MTY due to increased business at that airport.


Mexican airlines had some wild jumps, including a 20% increase in traffic from 2006-2008. Aeromexico became a private company in 2007. But very quickly Aviacsa.
Avolar, Lineas Aereas Azteca, and most importantly Mexicana (2nd largest airline in Mexico) all went bankrupt. Delta has been investing in their alliance partner, Aeromexico, and AM will soon replace their fleet of B767's. AM has already given up 10 B767's over the past two decades, and has 5 left.

Plans have been floated to build possibly the greatest airport in the Western Hemisphere in Mexico City at a cost of $13 billion. In the interim, they have to push some of their operations to Monterrey and Guadalajara as the airfield in Mexico City is overtaxed.

Estimates are that roughly 75 million people in Mexico take an intercity business class or executive bus trip (a nearly non-existent transportation option in the USA). Only 30 million people take domestic air trips. Mexico is completely different than the USA as their international traffic is about the same as domestic traffic.

Toluca airport (capital of Mexico State) and AICM (Mexico City airport) are only 33 air miles apart. There was a big push to move the low cost airlines to Toluca, but when Mexicana went bankrupt they all migrated back to AICM. With traffic picking up again, there are some who want to see that effort renewed.

For business customers it is often easier to fly to Toluca. The major business center (Santa Fe) is on the opposite side of the crowded city from AICM. Toluca airport is farther, but sometimes you can get to the office or hotel faster because there is so little traffic.
September 22nd, 2014 at 6:42:29 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Pacomartin
Estimates are that roughly 75 million people in Mexico take an intercity business class or executive bus trip (a nearly non-existent transportation option in the USA). Only 30 million people take domestic air trips. Mexico is completely different than the USA as their international traffic is about the same as domestic traffic.


Keep in mind that central Mexico is densely populated and geographically small. Per some rough calculations I've made, it takes about as long to drive from Mex City to Guanajuato than to fly from Mex City to El Bajío airport, if you include drive times to and from the airports as well as waiting times in them.

Some places outside of the center, like Guadalajara, are borderline. Driving is about 5-6 hours. That route gets a lot more air traffic than Mex-Bajio. Monterrey is ten hours away by car, making flight much more convenient.

Quote:
For business customers it is often easier to fly to Toluca. The major business center (Santa Fe) is on the opposite side of the crowded city from AICM. Toluca airport is farther, but sometimes you can get to the office or hotel faster because there is so little traffic.


Toluca airport is much closer to Santa Fe than the Mex City airport. Santa Fe is on the highway to Toluca, actually. The reduced traffic is just a bonus.

The last few times I've flown early I've made about 40+ minutes to Mex City's airport. I've reached Touca's in just under 20 minutes (once), with 20-30 minutes being more common. The distance is about the same, but I can drive much faster in the highway. Of course, when there's fog, all bets are off. One time I did almost an hour due to dense fog. On the highway fog is common. In the city it is very rare.
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September 22nd, 2014 at 7:49:55 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Nareed
Toluca airport is much closer to Santa Fe than the Mex City airport. Santa Fe is on the highway to Toluca, actually. The reduced traffic is just a bonus.


Denver's airport is 25 miles from downtown Denver. Oslo's new airport at Gardermoen opened in 1998. The airport is 30 miles north of downtown Oslo .

San Antonio and Austin airports are 66 air miles apart. San Antonio adopted a master plan in 1994 to radically update the airport. Austin–Bergstrom International Airport had it's groundbreaking for the new airport in November 1994.

The FAA tried to persuade the cities to build a common airport in between, but they individual cities refused.

Narita airport is 36 miles from central Tokyo, and it's development plan was made public in 1966.

The obvious point is that many cities have to locate 25-35 miles from downtown.
September 22nd, 2014 at 8:06:17 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Pacomartin
The obvious point is that many cities have to locate 25-35 miles from downtown.


Santa Fe is rather far from Downtown, on the western edge of the city.

I don't know the distances. Once using Google Earth I got linear distances of about 32 kilometers to both airports from my home. Santa Fe is much closer to Toluca than my place.
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September 22nd, 2014 at 5:42:11 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Nareed
Santa Fe is rather far from Downtown, on the western edge of the city.

I don't know the distances. Once using Google Earth I got linear distances of about 32 kilometers to both airports from my home. Santa Fe is much closer to Toluca than my place.


I didn't know you could travel 32 km in DF. Do you live in State of Mexico or DF?
September 23rd, 2014 at 8:27:10 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Pacomartin
I didn't know you could travel 32 km in DF.


You can travel even farther than that.

Quote:
Do you live in State of Mexico or DF?


State of Mexico, about 9 kilometers from the city in my usual route to work.

Of course, I unfairly neglected to remind you I have a highway that connects to the one for Toluca just 2 km. from my place.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
September 23rd, 2014 at 9:21:03 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Nareed
State of Mexico, about 9 kilometers from the city in my usual route to work. Of course, I unfairly neglected to remind you I have a highway that connects to the one for Toluca just 2 km. from my place.


It sounds like you live in Naucalpan

833,779 Naucalpan
524,074 Tultitlán
242,167 Huixquilucan

On another forum a guy took a job in Colegio Peterson in Santa Fe (very near the boundary)
Camino a Huizachito 80 Jardines de La Palma(Huizachito) Ciudad de México, Federal District, Mexico (peterson.mx)
He wanted to know if he could survive on public transportation. Some people warned that if taxis crossed the line from DF into the state of Mexico the fares could legally jump threefold.