Aeroméxico (AM, México City International) has urged its government to reverse a decision giving Emirates (EK, Dubai International) fifth-freedom rights between México City International and Barcelona El Prat and is prepared to bolster its own new route on the city pair to show its commitment.
“During the second quarter, we started direct flights from Mexico City to Barcelona, broadening our network proposition to Europe, where we now operate to five cities. We have made a decision to increase our operation to a daily service,” CEO Andrés Conesa Labastida said during an earnings conference call to analysts on July 17 to present the company's second-quarter results.
“Firstly, because we have seen strong demand on the route, but also as a response to the Mexican government's disappointing decision to grant fifth freedom flying rights to Emirates, to fly from Dubai International to Barcelona to Mexico City, in spite of the state subsidies Emirates receives from the UAE government. To provide the additional aircraft we need for the increased frequencies to Barcelona, we have decided to cancel our services to Shanghai."
AeroMéxico revealed last week that it would suspend its 3x weekly Mexico City-Tijuana-Shanghai Pudong service in the near future. Its Barcelona route, meanwhile, will go daily from March 2020.
“We are allocating our best products on our daily service to Barcelona,” Labastida said about the route launched as a 3x weekly route with B787-8s or B787-9s.
Emirates confirmed in a July 16 press release that it would launch a new daily service from Dubai to Mexico City via Barcelona starting on December 9, 2019 with a B777-200(LR).
“Due to the high altitude of Mexico City airport, it is not possible to operate a non-stop flight from Dubai, and Barcelona was a natural choice for a stopover," Tim Clark, president of Emirates, explained. He added that the route between the Spanish and Mexican capitals "has long been neglected by other airlines and remains underserved despite the strong customer demand."
Emirates obtained the regulatory approvals for the route in 2018 but then announced it would not, after all, launch it, blaming the Mexican authorities for allowing it only three flights per week, the same as AeroMéxico’s service.
