Aeromexico and Volaris increase international spread to strengthen yields; and VivaAerobus follows

Mexican airlines Aeromexico and Volaris are sticking to their proclaimed strategies of deploying most of their capacity into international markets as the Mexican economy slowly rebounds from a sluggish 2013. Through the first eight months of 2014 each airline increased their international capacity and traffic significantly, betting that yields are stronger in international markets.

The competitive overlap between Aeromexico and Volaris on each airline's top US transborder markets is not overwhelming, and Volaris has previously stated that it is targeting routes with a higher percentage of visiting, friends and relatives (VFR) travellers.

Aeromexico's and Volaris' rival VivaAerobus is also making a new transborder push during 2014, upping competition with Aeromexico and Interjet on some of its international services. It is tough to determine if the push is creating oversupply; but the international growth indicates Mexico's airlines are attempting to counter weaker yields on the country's domestic routes.