Aeroméxico

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AeroMéxico
IATA AM	ICAO AMX	Callsign AeroMéxico
Founded		1934 (as Aeronaves de México) 1988 (as Aerovias de México)
Hubs		Mexico City International Airport
Focus cities		Gen. Abelardo L. Rodríguez Int'l Airport Gen. Ignacio Pesqueira García Int'l Airport Gen. Mariano Escobedo Int'l Airport Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Int'l Airport
Frequent flyer program		Club Premier
Member lounge		Salón Premier
Alliance		SkyTeam
Fleet size		76 (24 orders)
Destinations		47
Parent company		Consorcio AeroMéxico S.A. de C.V.
Headquarters		Mexico City, Mexico
Key people		Andrés Conesa (CEO)
Website: http://www.aeromexico.com

AeroMéxico, is Latin America's largest airline, by fleet. It has been considered for more than 11 consecutive years as the most on-time airline worldwide. It operates more than 400 daily flights, or 750 together with Aerolitoral to 61 destinations, 39 in Mexico, 15 in North America, 4 in South America, 2 in Europe and 1 in Asia making it the only Latin American airline to fly to Asia. It is a founding member of the SkyTeam Alliance. Its main hub is Mexico City International Airport, Mexico City with secondary hubs at Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport, Guadalajara, General Mariano Escobedo International Airport, Monterrey, General Ignacio Pesqueira Garcia International Airport, Hermosillo and General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport, Tijuana.

Contents 1 History 1.1 1950s 1.2 1960s 1.3 1970s 1.4 1980s 1.5 1990s 1.6 2000s 2 Destinations 3 Fleet 3.1 Retired fleet 4 Salón Premier 4.1 Locations 5 Incidents and accidents 6 Livery 7 External links

[edit] History

The airline was established as Aeronaves de México on 15 September 1934, by Antonio Díaz Lombardo. The first plane was a Stinson SR and Julio Zinser piloted it. He inaugurated the maiden flight on the Mexico City - Acapulco route on 14 September 1934. When World War II began, the airline continued to grow with the help of Pan Am, which owned 25% of the new Mexican airline. Aeroméxico saw few changes for the next two decades. However, during the 1950s, renovation began, and the airline took over various small competitor companies across the country, including Aerovias Guest (the second airline of the country at that time) that held the routes to Madrid and Paris. Aeroméxico added aircraft including the legendary Douglas DC-3 and its successor, the DC-4.

[edit] 1950s

During the late 1950s, the DC-4's were replaced by some Douglas DC-6 and 3 Bristol Britannia the first turboprop passenger plane in the fleet and in 1958, services were inaugurated to Idlewild Airport (now JFK) using the same Bristol Britannia. The Mexico City-New York route would prove profitable for "Aeronaves" and its North American competitors. The airline was nationalized in 1959.

[edit] 1960s

In the early 1960s fleet of Aeronaves de Mexico (Aeromexico) was integrated by Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-6, and Bristol Britannia. Starting in 1961, "Aeronaves" began replacing its piston-engined planes for new jets, thus joining the worldwide airline industry evolution of that era. The first jet-engined aircraft were a pair of Douglas DC-8's. The planes were used on routes to New York and Europe. Between 1962 and 1963, after Aeronaves de Mexico (Aeromexico) took over Aerovias Guest Mexico the second Airline, they were merged, under the name Aeronaves de Mexico.

Later in the 1960s more DC-8's were added, followed by seven Douglas DC-9s 15 series between 1967 and 1968 for domestic and US services. This enabled the airline to gradually expand its international services. During the late 1960s, the Douglas DC-3s were finally retired.

[edit] 1970s

The 1970s brought dramatic changes for Aeroméxico. In 1970, under a government plan, Mexican domestic airlines were rationalized into an integrated air transport system under the control of Aeronaves de Mexico. The system included eight smaller carriers, although these were later disbanded.

During the early-1970s, the remaining DC-6 and Bristol Britannia aircraft were retired. A new color scheme (Orange and Black) was introduced and the airline changed its name from "Aeronaves de México" to its current, shortened version of Aeroméxico in February 1972.

Aeromexico, as one of the launch customers of the Douglas DC-10-30s program, received the first two planes in 1974, registered as XA-DUG and XA-DUH. That same year the airline also took delivery the first four DC-9 32 series planes.

During this period the airline's popularity and visibility grew dramatically. This was due in part to Aeroméxico's involvement in Mexican movies. Basically, every time a character in any movie produced in Mexico had to fly somewhere, they supposedly flew on Aeroméxico. Service to Canada was initiated and in late-1970s, two more DC-9 15 series were added to the fleet.

[edit] 1980s

The early 1980s brought times of expansion. A new color scheme was introduced (Orange paint and silver), two DC-10-15 and a DC-10-30 planes were added in 1981, N10038 and N1003N, and in 1982, N3878P later XA-RIY. Aeromexico as one of the launch customers of the MD-82, a stretch version of the DC-9, received the first two planes in late 1981. During the period between 1980 and 1981, eight more DC-9 32 series aircraft were added.

The late 1980s were tough times for Aeroméxico. On August 31, 1986, the company suffered the only fatal accident outside of Mexico when a Douglas DC-9 approaching Los Angeles International Airport was struck by a small Piper aircraft. Both aircraft then fell to earth in the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos, California. All 64 passengers and crew on board the DC-9-15 were killed, as were three on the Piper. Fifteen victims on the ground were also killed. After three years and a long trial, the plane crew and the airline were found not to blame. This was because the pilot of the Piper had strayed into an air traffic control zone reserved for commercial flights. This accident cost 82 people their lives.

Aeroméxico's safety record rates as "A", the highest grade possible, according to Air Rankings Online. Rankings are cumulative, based on the number of fatal accidents per million flights that the carrier has flown since 1970.

In April 1988, the state owned company was declared bankrupt. The main reasons were lack of organization, a fleet with an average of 20 years without a renovation plan and a depredating administration by the Mexican Government. The company was grounded for three months. In August, a privatization program was underway. This involved retiring ten Douglas DC-8 along with five Douglas DC-9-15 series aircraft.

Aerovias de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., was born and established on September 7, 1988, with the main objective of setting up public air transportation services for passengers, mail and, cargo in general; both domestically and internationally. The Company acquired all assets of Aeronaves de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. The airline was thus privatized. This new airline started operations with 25 aircraft (DC-9-32'S, MD-82's/83's and DC-10's) and less than one half of their former employees, 400 of which were pilots. The first CEO was Pedro Cerisola Weber.

The main investors of the new airline were local banks, private investors like Boris Irmaz one of the major share holders of Lan Chile and 25% by the pilots union, ASPA. Revitalized and reinvigorated, Aeroméxico resumed operations, changing the paint scheme to (blue/red) in early 1989. During the period between 1989 and 1991, many aircraft were added to the fleet: one McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, four ex-Eastern Douglas DC-9-31, and ten brand new McDonnell Douglas MD-88 airplanes. This helped the airline recover its load factors.

[edit] 1990s

The early 1990s were turbulent times, with the rise in petrol due to the first gulf war, and a domestic fare war caused by start up airlines like TAESA, Saro, Aviacsa, among others, as well as constant labor problems.

AeroMéxico, a long-established McDonnell Douglas customer became a Boeing customer in 1990, placing an order for 26 Boeing 767/Boeing 757 airplanes with deliveries between 1991 and 1996. However, only 15 of these planes were delivered. Four 757 orders were diverted to AeroPeru between 1993 and 1996. In 1991, Aeromexico bought Aerolitoral, the third regional airline in Aeromexico's history and now the most important regional carrier in Mexico. The fleet increased from 27 jets in October 1988, to 55 jets and 18 turboprop aircraft from the regional feeder Aerolitoral in December 1992.

In late 1992, Grupo AeroMexico was among other investors that failed to consummate the acquisition of Continental Airlines. During the early months of 1993, there was pressure by the government to buy the number two airline, Mexicana. This was because the smaller airline was in a critical financial situation. Later that year, AeroMexico acquired the bankrupt AeroPeru from the Peruvian government. They were also trying to use the same path that lead AeroMexico to the leadership in the domestic market. Three DC-10 and many 727-200Adv airplanes were transferred from the newly acquired Mexicana that was trying to cut costs by replacing them with F-100 and A-320 aircraft. By the end of 1993, two AeroMexico 757, XA-SMD and XA-SME (the latter destroyed in 1996 in the sea of Peru), were operated by AeroPeru.

Between 1991 and 1994, more second hand MD-82 and 83 planes were added. The first two MD-87 planes joined in 1993 for charter flights, and six brand new 757 jets to use on new routes were added to Phoenix, Arizona, and all over the western United States, as well as to Lima. In 1992, AeroMéxico introduced direct flights to Madrid and Paris from Mexico City and started services to Frankfurt via Paris and Rome via Madrid. Between 1994 and 1995 the last six DC-10 craft in the fleet were retired. Their last revenue flight was in February 1995.

In mid-1995, in the middle of an economic crisis in Mexico, AeroMexico suffered a fraud of US$75m by their former CEO Gerardo de Prevoisin. It became a part of Grupo Cintra along with Mexicana to avoid a bankruptcy of the two main carriers. It completed a successful financial restructuring in August 1995. There was a setback in the fleet, as three MD-83 planes were returned to lessors and four 767 aircraft for flights to Frankfurt and Rome were cancelled. Later on 1996, a code sharing arrangement with Delta Air Lines and Air France was started. Three years later, in 1999, AeroMexico became one of the founders of SkyTeam.

Since 1995, many banks like Bancomer that held a large amount of stocks on Grupo Cintra were sold to foreign Banks or foreign investors, the government during the transactions paid and kept the stock. By the end of selling process the Government held a total of 56% of Grupo Cintra that included Mexicana.

Aircraft was added to the fleet between 1996 and 2000: four 767, three 757, and six MD-80 aircraft. Flights to Madrid and Paris started to be operated on daily basis, but there was not a substantial growth of the company.

The sale of Grupo Cintra was announced after several delays in September of 1999. With the looming presidential elections in 2000, everything was delayed once again. The ruling party for 70 years lost the election and all the policies changed. The new government put everything on hold until better economic conditions arrived to start the stock sell-off. Just when they were about to start the process, 9/11 occurred and nothing materialized since the two main carriers Mexicana and AeroMexico (as all the carriers in the world) were losing large amounts of money.

[edit] 2000s

In the period between 2000-2005 AeroMéxico had an average fleet of 70 aircraft in main line, plus 25 in Aerolitoral, as well as five CEO's during this time. After 9/11 and the Gulf War, it was forced to put in movement an ambitious fleet renovation program. This began in mid-2003, by replacing all the remaining DC-9-32 planes (14) in the fleet, as well as the MD-82/83 models, with more efficient 737-700/800 craft. The first 737-700 entered into operation in December 2003. Additionaly 767's and 757's are planned to be replaced with 787's and 777's. The Aerolitoral regional airline exchanged Metros and Saab planes for ERJ-145 craft. On March 29, 2006 AeroMéxico CEO, Andrés Conesa announced, that Aeroméxico intends to inaugurate direct flights between Japan and Mexico City. This was after the purchase of two Boeing 777-200ER. This will make Aeroméxico the second airline in Latin America to fly to Asia, after Varig. However, because of Varig's current financial situation, Aeroméxico will be the sole airline with this service until Varig restart fights to Asia.

On June 29, 2006, the International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) and AeroMéxico announced that the airline will operate three Boeing 787 airplanes. Aeromexico will lease the three 787-8s from ILFC with deliveries scheduled to begin in early 2010, another two planes on lease from ILFC will be in service by 2011.

In mid-September 2006, AeroMéxico announced that it will start operating service to Tokyo, Japan. This was made possible with the arrival of the third 777-200ER. This is actually a second-hand airplane because it was previously operated by Varig and was delivered in the first days of November by ILFC. Two more similar aircraft are expected in 2007.

On November 14, 2006, the orders for 2 787-8 and 10 more 737-700 were placed. In 2006, Aeroméxico bought a total 18 new planes from Boeing.

On November 16, 2006, AeroMéxico inaugurated the flight to Tokyo-Narita from Mexico City via Tijuana in a Boeing 777-200ER. In late-2006, Aeroméxico bought 16 more airplanes from Boeing, ten 737-700, plus the six 737-700 previously announced.

[edit] Destinations

see article: Aeroméxico destinations.

[edit] Fleet

The all-Boeing Aeroméxico fleet consists of the following aircraft as of September 2006^{[citation needed]}:

Aeroméxico Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Passengers	Routes	Notes
Boeing 737-700	29 (13 orders)	153	Mexico, Peru and USA	Short-long haul international and domestic routes
Boeing 737-800	4 (3 orders)	124	Mexico and USA	Short-medium haul international and domestic routes
Boeing 757-200	2	175-180	Mexico and USA	Short-medium haul international and domestic routes
Boeing 767-200ER	3	181	Europe, Monterrey and South America	Long haul international and domestic routes
Boeing 767-300ER	1	209 (18/191)	Europe and South America	Long haul international routes
Boeing 777-200ER	3 (3 orders)	277	Brazil, Europe, Japan and Tijuana	Long haul international and domestic routes
Boeing 787	(5 orders)			Entry into service: 2011 Long haul international routes
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	3	142	Mexico and USA	Short-medium haul international and domestic routes
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	7	142	Mexico and USA	Short-medium haul international and domestic routes
McDonnell Douglas MD-87	14	109	Mexico and USA	Short-medium haul international and domestic routes
McDonnell Douglas MD-88	10	142	Mexico and USA	Short-medium haul international and domestic routes

The average age of Aeroméxico fleet is 10.7

years as of September 2006.

[edit] Retired fleet

• Bristol Britannia
• DC-3
• DC-4
• DC-6
• DC-8
• DC-9
• DC-10

[edit] Salón Premier

Salones Premier are located throughout major airports in Mexico. The lounges open one hour before the departure of the first flight and close when the last flight departs.

[edit] Locations

The following locations are Salón Premier lounges:

• Mexico City (Domestic)
• Mexico City (International)
• Acapulco
• Chihuahua
• Cancún
• Guadalajara
• Ciudad Juárez
• Mérida
• Monterrey
• Tijuana

[edit] Incidents and accidents

• Aeronaves de México; 26 March 1954 near Monterrey, México. XA-GUN (Douglas DC-3)
• Aeronaves de México; 2 June 1958 near Guadalajara, México. XA-MEV (Lockheed 749A Constellation)
• Aeronaves de Mexico; 19 January 1961 in New York, New York (Idlewild). XA-XAX (McDonnell Douglas DC-8-21)
• Aeronaves de México; 13 August 1966 near Acapulco, Mexico XA-PEI (Douglas DC-8-51)
• Aeronaves de México; 24 December 1966 Lake Texcoco, Mexico XA-NUS (Douglas DC-8-51)
• Aeronaves de México; 12 June 1967 near La Paz, México. XA-FUW (Douglas DC-3A-197D)
• Aeronaves de México; 09 July 1967 Tijuana Airport, Mexico. XA-MEC (Bristol 175 Britania 302)
• Aeromexico; 20 June 1973 near Puerto Vallarta,México. XA-SOC (McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15)
• Aeromexico; 02 September 1976 Leon/Guanajuato-Del Bajio(BJX) XA-SOF (McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15)
• Aeromexico; 27 July 1981 in Chihuahua, México. XA-DEN (McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32)
• Aeromexico; 8 November 1981 in Sierra de Guerrero, México. XA-DEO (McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32)
• Aeromexico/Pvt.; 31 August 1986 in Cerritos, California.XA-JED (MD Douglas DC-9-32/Piper PA-28-181) See: Aeroméxico Flight 498
• Aeromexico; 15 October 1997 Mexico City XA-DEJ (McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32)
• Aeromexico; 06 October 2000 in Reynosa México. N936ML (McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31)
• Aeromexico; 31 October 2002 in Monterrey Mexico. XA-AMF (McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32)
• On March 1, 2005, an Aeromexico Boeing 757 suffered substantial damage and was not able to fly after a Mexicana A319 that was just in front of it made a 180 degree turn to avoid hitting a passenger who had just jumped off a Lufthansa Boeing 747 that was taking off Benito Juarez International Airport. [1]
• On February 10 an Aeromexico 737-700 hit a Mexicana Airbus A320.

[edit] Livery

Aeromexico's livery is a Eurowhite scheme, composed of primarily white fuselage with blue in the tail and a red stripe across the front of the plane.

[edit] External links

• Aeroméxico
• Aeroméxico Virtual
• Aeroméxico Fleet Age
• Aeroméxico Fleet Detail
• Aeroméxico Passenger Opinions