How are Aeromexico's services from Paris evolving?
Emmanuel Oswald - Our European expansion continues. During the summer, we increased our frequencies to Parisadding a second daily flight every Thursday and Friday. This early afternoon departure is in addition to the 'historic' late evening flight to offer an alternative to business travellers. This programme of nine weekly flights is extended during the winter, but the days of operation of this second daily flight are shifted to Wednesdays and Sundays. The offer has been designed to meet the demand from business travellers, which is growing very strongly. This expanded programme will enable us to increase our capacity, as our aircraft are very full, especially as these two additional flights are not code-shared with Air France. The advantage is that this gives us more availability.
Is demand following the same trend?
E. O. - That's right: demand from Mexico is even increasing. sharp rise. According to BSP figures, for all companies combined, the increase reached 16% between January and August. There is therefore a strong dynamic, particularly for the business travel. The Mexican investments in France have tripled in five years. There are, of course, the traditional sectors, such asaeronautics and theautomotiveThis is an area in which Mexico is now establishing itself as a global crossroads. In addition to these two major sectors, which can be subject to fairly significant cycles, new areas of activity are developing, notably theagri-food which is growing strongly, like the Lactalis group, which has invested heavily in Mexico. It's also attracting a lot of SMEs and service providers. The luxury is also growing rapidly, with a flourishing economy and a growing middle class, similar to some Asian countries. And every year, almost 100,000 new graduates come out of Mexico's top schools, which testifies to the dynamism of the Mexican economy. Mexico is no longer just a country of production, but also one of a creative country with added value and a skilled workforce.
Will you soon be able to further increase your flight schedule between Paris and Mexicoperhaps up to two flights a day?
Emmanuel Oswald - We're already looking ahead to next summer, and we could be offering up to 11 flights a week. But we need to remain cautious: it's a question of increasing gradually, of studying the reaction of the market. It's a highly competitive sector, with economic tensions affecting all the players. But we have no intention of stopping there.
Don't the links Air France has forged with other Latin American airlines such as Gol and Air Europea affect your relationship?
E. O. - From our point of view, this is not a problem. This dynamic can be found just about everywhere in the airline sector. But the logic of alliances remains strong.
So the strategic position of the Mexico hub is not in question?
Emmanuel Oswald - No, especially as our area of influence is not limited to Mexico. We have a strong presence in Central America, the Caribbean, northern Latin America and, of course, the United States on the cross-border market, where we have set up a joint venture with Deltawhich is our 49% shareholder.
