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Old 18th Dec 2005, 17:28
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Mexicana

Sale proceeds to Cintra may be disappointing, but the process has been healthy for Mexico.

Viva Mexico!
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Old 3rd Aug 2010, 19:49
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Mexicana de Aviacion Bankruptcy

Mexicana airlines files for bankruptcy - Business - U.S. business - Aviation - msnbc.com

Excerpts from the announcement
MEXICO CITY — Mexicana de Aviacion, Mexico's largest air carrier, filed for bankruptcy protection after failing to reach a new labor agreement with pilots and flight attendants.

The airline has proposed salary cuts of 41 percent and 39 percent for pilots and flight attendants, respectively, and a 40 percent staff reduction to keep the company afloat.
That's a non trivial concession to ask for.
"The labor costs of (Mexicana) are well above the global average," it said.
I am trying to understand the relevance of that.
Pilots and attendants say they accepted salary cuts and gave up some benefits in 2006, saving Mexicana around $35 million per year.
It appears that having agreed once, management is trying to see how far they'll go.
They blame the company's financial woes on poor management.
I suspect that is a root cause.

Can anyone familiar with Mexicana de Aviacion can shed some light on this?
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Old 3rd Aug 2010, 19:57
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Gatwick

The Gatwick flight had already been zero'd out a few hours before
this announcement per the post below: -

MEXICANA cancels European service from Sep 2010 AIRLINE ROUTE

Pete
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Old 3rd Aug 2010, 20:18
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This would have not helped either.
American Airlines and Delta Air Lines said they will remove their codes from AeroMexico and Mexicana flights respectively following the US FAA's downgrading late Friday of Mexico's safety rating from a Category 1 to Category 2.
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Old 3rd Aug 2010, 20:26
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Mexicana files for Bankruptcy

One of the world's oldest airlines, Mexicana - founded in 1921 - has today filed for bankruptcy; over the past few days, at least three of the airline's aircraft have been repossessed and the airline's CEO has said that unless swingeing cuts are made to the airline's workforce and salaries, the company is no longer viable:

Mexicana airlines files for bankruptcy - Business - U.S. business - Aviation - msnbc.com
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Old 3rd Aug 2010, 20:33
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Sadly, the entire country is in bad shape. The FAA recently downgraded their aviation safety rating.
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Old 3rd Aug 2010, 20:35
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Poor, inept (possibly disfunctional in the financial sense) magagement, no more, nor less.
The Category two rating (recent for Mexico) didn't help, either.
They had better pull their collective socks up, or they will be history.

Don't hold your breath.
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Old 3rd Aug 2010, 20:52
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http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/4...ankruptcy.html

Also brought up in that forum, I'll ask the mods to merge the two threads.

Mods: should this topic be in this forum, or in Rumors/News?
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Old 3rd Aug 2010, 20:55
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http://www.pprune.org/showthread.php...=1#post5847015

Looks like code sharing with two American airlines was recently lost to them.

Rather than have two discussions, I'll request the Mods can merge the two threads.
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Old 3rd Aug 2010, 21:26
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Sadly, the entire country is in bad shape. The FAA recently downgraded their aviation safety rating.
Source?

That will be the second furlough/lay off for many pilots.
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Old 4th Aug 2010, 04:53
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The source is from Air Transport World.
FAA said that Mexico is "not in compliance with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization," noting that it reached the conclusion "following an assessment of the country’s civil aviation authority."
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Old 6th Aug 2010, 10:37
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Thanks, anyone know where you can find the FAA report on Mexico's DGAC?
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Old 10th Aug 2010, 01:34
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Mexicana de Aviacion: A turbulent life. Is this the end of the road?

“Reservation and issuing of tickets for flights operated by Mexicana Airlines (CMA) have been suspended indefinitely. However, Mexicana Airlines (CMA) will continue flying in the interest of protecting passengers who already have tickets and flight itineraries.” The announcement appeared on the airline’s website at 1800h on 04-Aug-2010. On 02-Aug-2010, management had filed for Mexico’s equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and for Chapter 15 protection from seizure of its assets in the US, after failing to persuade unions to reduce staff and salaries. The airline is now struggling to maintain service and appears to be in its death throes.

The long, not always happy life of Mexicana
This unhappy epitaph comes to an airline which was just a few weeks past its 89th birthday, having started operations in Jul-1921; the Mexicana de Aviacion brand was formally established three years later.

The flag carrier has lived in a highly competitive marketplace for all of its existence, flirting with bankruptcy in the 1960s, but narrowly escaping. It has enjoyed a turbulent life, in which the airline was briefly nationalised in the 1990s, merged with Aeromexico and de-merged, privatised, joined and left the Star Alliance and joined oneworld last year.

Grupo Posadas, a large hotel group, bought the airline in an open bidding process in 2005 and has subsequently sold down substantial parts of its holdings. As a privately held company, Mexicana is not rich with information, but a proposed USD250 bond raising (to enhance the carrier’s balance sheet) was dropped in Jun-2010. An IPO had also been on the books for 2011.

Mexican court approval for bankruptcy protection awaited
While Mexicana awaits formal court protection, and "in order for CMA to continue operations and to protect the company, passengers and its creditors, a series of temporary injunction relief measures have been granted to prevent creditors from exercising their rights over the CMA’s outstanding debt obligations. Such measures are subject to negotiations with CMA’s creditors and unions." This was the airline’s position last week, but things have moved quickly since then.

Pilots and flight attendants being asked for deep cuts
The changes being sought of staff are more than incremental – 40% salary cuts for pilots and flight attendants, as well as a 40% reduction in their numbers. To date, this has not been acceptable.

A bargain at one peso?
One alternative being offered by the airline’s shareholders was a buyout by staff for one peso. That apparently good deal must be measured against the USD1 billion in debt that the airline is carrying. Partly a measure to introduce flight crew to the reality of the situation, this offer is unlikely to be accepted, leaving Mexicana to find its own way through a difficult bankruptcy process.

The end is nigh, apparently. MexicanaClick and Link also at risk
The unlikely scenario, where the airline continues to operate, but without selling tickets, was always going to be fragile. So it is not surprising that in just the past few hours, the airline has announced the cancellation of a number of longer haul flights and “that its financial situation has deteriorated substantially in the last week due to a series of events that have strangled the cash flows the airline needs to finance its day-to-day operations. One such event was IATA’s decision to suspend the carrier’s BSP sales channel, forcing it to suspend the sale and issuing of tickets indefinitely.”

This also has had “serious repercussions for MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink sales. Other sources of revenue have either dried up or are being retained by financial institutions following the company’s recent decision to file bankruptcy proceedings.

“Consequently,” reads the announcement, “Mexicana Airlines will be forced to cancel certain flights over coming days to optimize available resources and ensure that priority is given to homebound passengers.”

Once an airline ceases operations, recovery is rarely possible. A broadly similar situation was reached with Alitalia in 2008, and the airline did recover, thanks partly to foreign airline interest in acquiring a share in it – but predominantly because Prime Minister Berlusconi put the full force of the government behind efforts to retrieve the situation. In the case of Mexican however, the Mexican government has been explicit: it will not assist in any bailout.

There may be some interest from other oneworld alliance partners, or even from chief full service competitor, Aeromexico, but no white knight has made an appearance yet. Nor is there any obvious partner which would be willing to absorb the host of legacy issues that come with Mexicana.

So this latest news, of cancellations and the apparent drying up of the carrier’s access to cash, means that if Mexicana has not actually gone over the brink, it is teetering.

For most of the current year Mexicana has been seeking hurriedly to reduce costs, as the combination of uncertain times and stiff competition from Mexican and US airlines vividly exposed its weaknesses. But the owners had previously tried to separate keep both MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink, the carrier’s independent low cost regional operations, separate from the crisis. The latest announcement would appear to make that prospect unlikely too.

Flow on impacts – for Airbus, airport operators, one world and Aeromexico
Mexicana took delivery of its most recent A319 in Jun-2010, from ILFC. The carrier has only three more aircraft on order, two A319s and an A320, but the almost inevitable downsizing which would follow a potential recovery from bankruptcy protection, implies an airline some 40% smaller.

The US filing for Chapter 15 protection from creditors is to protect the airline from entities such as lessors or airport operators, from seizing aircraft to secure their debts. Three aircraft have already reportedly been seized by lessors. As the carrier plans to keep operating – and presumably recommencing to sell tickets once the situation stabilises – keeping its assets free to operate is a key consideration.

In its Chapter 15 filing, Mexicana last week asserted that "The seizure of even one aircraft, for example, could disrupt Mexicana's global operationas and potentially trigger or encourage the subsequent exercise of remedies by other parties.”

Airbus the backbone of the fleet
Most of Mexicana’s fleet comprises 61 A320 family aircraft, with 10 A318s, 23 A319s and 26 A320s; there are a further 6 on order. The carrier also operates two longer haul A330-200s, along with four B767s.

A substantial downgrading of Mexicana’s services, as now seems likely, will most likely require substantial fleet reduction. With an average age of over 11 years, several of these aircraft will be becoming elderly, so not all will be easy to reposition.

Mexico’s airports temporary losers
Likewise, a downgrading or even closure of Mexicana will have some flow on to the main airports where it operates.

Most of the country’s airports are run by private operators. These include:

ASUR, Aeropuertos del Sureste de Mexico, operates nine Mexican airports, with the anchor airport of Cancun, as well as Cozumel, Huatulco, Mérida, Minatitlán, Oaxaca, Tapachula, Veracruz and Villahermosa airports;
GAP, Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacífico, operates, in descending order of importance, Guadalajara and Tijuana, Mexicali, Hermosillo, Los Mochis, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato and Morelia and La Paz, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo; and
OMA operates Monterrey, Acapulco, Mazatlán and Zihuatanejo, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Culiacán, Durango, Reynosa, San Luis Potosí, Tampico, Torreón, and Zacatecas
Mexicana and its regional subsidiaries are sizeable operators at most of these airports. So the pain will be spread widely at first. But many of the domestic operations at least would probably lend themselves to being picked up by an opportunist investor.

The same applies to many of the airline’s north American routes into Canada and the US. There will be several LCCs and others willing and eager to mop up any unmet demand that may occur as Mexicana contracts or disappears.

oneworld to lose a valuable partner
Even if Mexicana is able to extricate itself from this difficult condition, it will certainly emerge much weaker. Gaining Mexicana was something of a coup, after the carrier had quickly exited Star a year or so earlier – and prevented Sky Team from getting a look in. Nonetheless one world remains strong, although American Airlines is a major operator into Latin America, most of its activity is through its Miami hub.

An opportunity for Aeromexico
One point of comfort for all stakeholders may arise from a finding in May-2010 by Mexico’s Federal Competition Commission that a merger between Mexicana and Aeromexico would not substantially reduce competition and would therefore be permissible.

If in fact Mexicana were now to be reduced to a pile of assets rather than a going concern, this would offer a substantial opportunity for Aeromexico – and with no obstruction likely to be in its way.

A notable event and, in many ways to be mourned
But, for more than aviation historians, the passing of a famous old name like Mexicana would be an event not to be celebrated. There are too many octogenarian – and older – airlines flying today, baggage and all, to allow the industry yet to be productive.

Nonetheless, the loss of Mexico’s and north America’s first airline is a less than joyous event and will/would create some large holes that are not quickly mended. It is important in particular that the less attractive domestic regional routes be quickly picked up, at risk of losing valuable community and economic links. The more popular routes to north American holiday destinations and to Mexico City will soon be compensated for.

It may be a little too soon to say Vale Mexicana, but the Reaper is just around the corner.

Mexicana de Aviacion: A turbulent life. Is this the end of the road? | Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation - CAPA
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Old 10th Aug 2010, 10:49
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Euro routes

Will Aeromexico consider replacing some of the euro routes such as LGW and MAD??
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Old 27th Aug 2010, 20:19
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Mexicana ceasing operations

Posted about a half hour ago in the local media. Ceasing operations on Saturday.

Mexicana airline to stop flying Saturday - The Globe and Mail
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Old 27th Aug 2010, 20:27
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Sad. A long history.

Mexicana is North America's oldest airline and the world's third oldest airline operating under the same name, after the Netherlands' KLM and Australia's Qantas.
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Old 27th Aug 2010, 20:36
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I hope it is not true. From Flight International:

Mexicana’s new owners have not yet put forward any capital: Unions
By Brendan Sobie

Mexicana's new owners are apparently waiting to see if they can complete agreements with the carrier's unions before deciding whether to invest in the bankrupt carrier.

Investment group Tendora K purchased Mexicana parent company Nuevo Grupo Aeronautico (NGA) on 20 August and subsequently stated that new labour agreements are essential for the carrier to be rescued. Two of Mexican's unions tell Flightglobal that Tenedora K has not yet put any capital into the company, which means they have nothing to lose if they decide to walk away from the proposed rescue.

Tenedora K has declined to disclose how much it paid to acquire its 95% stake in NGA or how much it has so far has invested in the company. But former owner Grupo Posadas announced its 30% stake in NGA was sold to Tenedora K for a symbolic amount and Tenedora K is believed to have only paid a symbolic one peso for the entire 95% stake. The other 5% is still owned by Mexicana pilots union ASPA.

An ASPA spokesman says Tenedora K has not yet provided any capital and Mexicana is currently operating by relying mainly on credit which the government and government-owned companies have agreed to temporarily provide. He says this credit is allowing Mexicana and sister carriers Click and Link to receive fuel in Mexico and accrue navigation, airport services and other charges without pre-payment.

Private airport operators also were ordered by a Mexican court earlier this week to continue providing services to Mexicana although the company has not been paying its bills.

A spokesman for Mexicana flight attendants union ASSA also says "there's no investment from Tenedora K right now".

But unions acknowledge there is a risk that Tenedora K can walk away from the deal before investing any capital. Tenedora K has already stated that in closely examining the company's accounts since agreeing to buy NGA on 20 August, it has discovered the financial condition of the company is more severe than originally thought.

The ASSA spokesman says the union is also concerned Tenedora K has no interest in the airline industry and could be a short-term investor. But both the ASSA and ASPA spokesman say the unions are confident Tenedora K will be able to complete agreements with all the company's unions by early next week and once these deals are finalised the new owners will finally make an initial investment.

If Tenedora K decides to back out, it is expected the government would likely continue to provide the credit necessary to keep Mexicana operating while the unions lead the search for an alternative investor. The ASPA spokesman says other investors expressed interest in acquiring the company and spoke to the unions last week. But he says ASPA is currently only working with Tenedora K.

He says Click, Link and Mexicana are all currently operating roughly one third of their pre-bankruptcy schedules. As a result most employees are working reduced hours.

Employees also have not received any salary since Mexicana filed for bankruptcy early this month. The hope is employees and suppliers will later receive payment for services rendered during Mexicana's financial crisis.

The ASSA spokesman says the union has been told some flight attendants will receive next week a reduced salary for August of no more than 10,000 pesos ($770).
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Old 27th Aug 2010, 21:26
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I have just checked 4 online Mexican newspapers, and it sadly appears to be true

El Universal, el periódico de México líder en noticias y clasificados
La Jornada en Internet
Milenio
El Financiero en línea

Good luck to all involved
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Old 27th Aug 2010, 22:16
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Unhappy

What I don't understand is the speed of demise! Bear in mind that UAL was almost three years in bankruptcy...
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Old 28th Aug 2010, 01:51
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Hold on a sec...

On the second link provided by fdgolf the news says:

A decir del titular de la SCT, Juan Molinar Horcasitas, la suspensión de vuelos no significa la quiebra o desaparición de la empresa, sino que permitirá continuar con la fase preliminar de la solicitud de concurso mercantil y mediante éste llevar a cabo la reestructura de la compañía.
Which means...

"In the words of the Secretary of Communications and Transportation, Juan Molinar Horcasitas, the suspension of flights doesn't mean the definitive bankruptcy or the disappearance of the airline, but it will allow to continue with the preliminary phase of the request of bankruptcy protection and by those means accomplish the company restructure."

How does that work?
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