, is
Mexico 's and
Latin America 's largest
Airline , 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 63 destinations in
Mexico ,
North America ,
South America , and
Europe . It is a founding member of the
Sky Team Alliance . Its main base is
Mexico City International Airport ,
Mexico City with hubs at
General Mariano Escobedo International Airport ,
Monterrey ,
General Ignacio Pesqueira Garcia International Airport ,
Hermosillo and
Don Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla International Airport ,
Guadalajara .
The airline was established as Aeronaves de México on
15 September 1934 . When World War 2 struck, it 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 competitor companies, including Aerovias Guest, which was the original owner of the routes to
Madrid and
Paris (these routes are still being flown by
Boeing 767 's and
777 's). Aeroméxico added aircraft like the legendary
Douglas DC-3 and its successor, the
DC-4 .
In 1958, services were inaugurated to
Idlewild Airport (now JFK) using the
Bristol Britannia . The Mexico City-New York route would prove profitable for Aeroméxico and its
North American competitors. The airline was nationalised in 1959.
Aeroméxico started changing its piston-engined planes for the new jets during the
1960s , joining the worldwide airline industry evolution of that era. The first jet to join "Aeronaves"' fleet was the
Douglas DC-8 , followed by a series of
Douglas DC-9 s during the mid 60's. This enabled the airline to gradually expand its international services.
The movies. Basically, every time a character in any movie produced in
Mexico had to fly somewhere, they supposedly flew on Aeroméxico.
The
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 were killed, as were three on the Piper. Fifteen victims on the ground were also killed. The plane crew or the airline were not to blame, as the Piper was being flown by a pilot who strayed into an air traffic control zone reserved for commercial flights. This mistake cost 82 people their lives.
Aeroméxico's safety record rates a "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, mainly because of lack of organization and a healthy administration by the Mexican Government. In the reorganization, the entire
Douglas DC-8 fleet was retired along with the
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 practically acquired all assets of Aeronaves de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. The airline was thus privatised. By October of the same year, the airline resumed operations with 20 aircraft and less than one half of their former employees, 400 of which were pilots. The airline at that time was owned by local banks, private investors and 25% by the pilots union, ASPA.
Revitalized and reinvigorated, Aeroméxico resumed operations, and added a fleet of 1
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 , 4
Douglas DC-9-31 s and 10
McDonnell Douglas MD-88 s. Between 1989 and 1995, new routes were added to
Phoenix, Arizona , and all over the western
United States , as well as to
Lima . In 1992, Aeroméxico started services to
Frankfurt and
Rome .
Aeroméxico 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. The fleet increased from 29 jets in October l988 to 55 jets and 18 turboprop aircraft from their regional subsidiaries AeroLitoral in December l992. The 90's were turbulent times, and included a fare war caused by start up airlines like
TAESA , Saro,
Aviacsa and others, as well as constant labor problems. Between 1994 and 1995 the 6 DC-10's in the fleet were retired. Their last revenue flight was in February 1995.
In mid 1995 after a fraud of US$75m made by their former CEO Gerardo de Prevoisin, Aeromexico became a part of Cintra along with
Mexicana and completed a successful financial restructuring in August 1995. In 1996 it started a code share with
Delta Air Lines and
Air France , and in 1999 became a founding member of
SkyTeam .
In
November 29 ,
2005 Grupo Cintra agreed to sell Mexicana Group (
Mexicana De Aviación and
Click Mexicana ) to Mexican hotel chain Grupo Posadas for USD$165.5 million. Cintra rejected bids for Aeromexico, because they were too low, but Grupo Cintra executives insisted they would put Aeromexico back on the block in January 2006.
In
January 24 ,
2006 Grupo Cintra agreed to change the company's name to Consorcio Aeroméxico, after the selling of Mexicana Group.
In
March 29 ,
2006 Aeroméxico CEO, Andrés Conesa announced, that Aeroméxico intends to inaugurate direct flights between
Nagoya in central
Japan and Mexico City on
July 1 ,
2006 , this after the purchase of two
Boeing 777-200ER . This will make Aeroméxico the second airline in
Latin America to fly to
Asia , after
Varig .
In
April 4 ,
2006 Aeroméxico's parent company (Consorcio Aeroméxico) announced it has decided to seek a buyer through a bidding process rather than privatize via a stock offering as had been considered.
- 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. (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)
- Aeromexico; 15 October 1997 Mexico City XA-DEJ (McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32)
- Aeromexico; 31 October 2002 in Monterrey Mexico. XA-AMF (McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32)
