Changes at Volaris

Two of Mexico’s richest men, Emilio Azcárraga (Televisa) and Carlos Slim (everything else) have sold their stock in Volaris, one of the new, low-fare airlines. Each held a 25 percent interest in the company. Reportedly, each had invested $90 million but sold their shares for 80 million. This has not been confirmed.

Low-fare has become a misnomer, since tickets on these airlines (including Interjet and others), are not significantly cheaper than those sold by competitors, with almost no secondary airports available, fuel available only from the government petroleum company Pemex, along with other fixed costs. These new companies find it difficult to cut their own costs.

Volaris, however, does have a monopoly on several routes, including flights to different points in California from different points in Mexico. Top executive at Volaris is Pedro Aspe, a former finance minister. He bought additional shares when they became available. He and Roberto Kriete, director of Taca-Avianca, now virtually share ownership in the airline. Slim and Azcárraga are business rivals, which is said to explain their ending their Volaris partnership. Slim would like to get into cable television, which Azcárraga would like to use his television cables to form a phone company that would compete with Slim’s Telmex.

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Jimm Budd

Reporting from Mexico City

Member of the Society of American Travel Writers