Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport

LATAM Airlines Group continues to battle pressure in long-haul and Brazilian domestic markets

Weakness in long-haul markets from Brazil continued to pressure LATAM Airlines Group during 1Q2013 as competitive capacity increases triggered depressed loads and unit revenues in its international network. But LATAM’s efforts to restore strength in the Brazilian domestic market and the relative strength in the group’s Spanish speaking companies should help to offset some of the continuing pressure in LATAM’s international network.

The company’s attempts to bolster international service during the last year to offset some of the continuing weakness in the Brazilian domestic market have faltered somewhat due to competitive capacity increases by American and United in the US-Brazil market, and LATAM’s own expansion of supply in the market. The company’s overall capacity increase in its international markets during 1Q2013 was 12.3%.

Aeromexico faces formidable challenges in making new London Heathrow flights viable

Aeromexico’s planned inauguration of flights from Mexico City to London Heathrow in mid Dec-2012 marks the third destination in Europe served by the carrier. The choice is somewhat curious given that Heathrow is dominated by British Airways and the oneworld alliance, with Aeromexico’s SkyTeam partners offering connectivity to only a few global markets from the airport. The Mexico-UK market is also not a high origin and destination market as traffic to the UK represents about 1% of the international passenger traffic from Mexico.

The new service being offered by Aeromexico with Boeing 767-300ERs, scheduled to begin on 14-Dec-2012, will provide the airline’s passengers direct flights to London rather than connections through Madrid to London Gatwick (45km from the city versus 24km for Heathrow) operated by Aeromexico’s SkyTeam partner Air Europa and service from Paris to London Heathrow operated by SkyTeam anchor carrier Air France. Aeromexico’s flights to London Heathrow are complementing the carrier’s existing long-haul European service to Paris and Madrid, which is the main base for SkyTeam partner Air Europa. Air Europa is bolstering its service from Madrid as the weak Spanish economy is triggering other airlines to pare down their offerings from Barajas Airport.

Dubai Airport to become the world’s second largest international airport from November

A CAPA analysis of forward schedule data has revealed Dubai International Airport (DIA) will take the spot of the world’s second busiest international airport from Nov-2011, leap-frogging Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG).

Air France looks to regional points to counter LCC, TGV threat

Air France has announced plans to move away from its Paris-centric strategy and moved into regional French market in a bid to counter the growing threat of low-cost carriers in its home market, which remains one of Europe’s few remaining spaces for growth in the sector.