A Look Into The Six Long-Haul Routes Between Spain And Mexico

This week, Iberojet, a Spanish charter airline owned by Ávoris Corporación Empresarial and previously called Evelop!, launched services between Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD) and Los Cabos International Airport (SJD). This is the sixth route operated between both countries by Spanish or Mexican carriers (seventh overall, if we account for Emirates).

The newest route

On Monday, Iberojet launched its new flight E9861 between Madrid and Los Cabos onboard its Airbus A350-900 aircraft. The carrier employed a jetliner registration EC-NGY to operate this route.

The new seasonal route will have one weekly service on Mondays and expects to carry up to 4,000 passengers yearly to the Mexican destination. Los Cabos is one of the favorite destinations for leisure travelers in Mexico; it has many resorts and a strong expat community.

Nonetheless, Los Cabos remains mainly a destination for US travelers. In 2021, the city received 2.8 million tourists, mainly from the United States; only 35,000 came from Europe. Iberojet is attempting to address this market.

This is the third route Iberojet has launched between Spain and Mexico in the last couple of years. The airline also currently flies six times a week between Madrid and Cancun International Airport (CUN) and two times between Barcelona El Prat International Airport (BCN) and Cancun.

Iberojet launched services between Madrid and Los Cabos. It is its third route between Spain and Mexico. Photo: Getty Images.

Connectivity between Mexico and Spain

With the newest route launched by Iberojet, there are 65 weekly flights between Mexico and Spain, according to data by Cirium.

There are six routes operated exclusively by Mexican or Spanish airlines and one route operated only by Emirates, Mexico City-Barcelona-Dubai. The airlines operating in this market are Aeromexico, Air Europa, Emirates, Iberia, Iberojet, and World2Fly.

Most of the market is heavily dominated by Iberia and Aeromexico. According to data by the Mexican government, these two airlines held a 38.6% and a 34.2% market share in May. Emirates held 9.2% (an impressive number for an airline that is neither from any of these countries), Iberojet 7.2%, World2Fly 6.2%, and Air Europe 4.4%.

This market has recovered fully from the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2022, the market between Mexico and Spain has had more carried passengers than in 2019, signaling strong demand for long-haul connectivity.

Iberia and Aeromexico currently dominate most of the Spain-Mexico market. Photo: Iberia.

Decentralization

The COVID-19 pandemic brought an unexpected twist to the Mexico-Spain market, decentralization. Prior to the pandemic, around 95% of the services between both countries began or ended in Mexico City, Cancún, or Madrid. Only a small fraction of the flights flew to Barcelona (by Aeromexico).

In the last few months, there has been a bigger decentralization. Aeromexico launched flights to Madrid from Guadalajara and Monterrey, two key cities in the Mexican economy but lacking long-haul connectivity.

Emirates doubled down on the services to Dubai via Barcelona. It currently operates daily flights on this route, while Aeromexico has canceled the service.

Finally, Iberojet is now looking to address the long-haul leisure market by launching this new route to Los Cabos. Thinking ahead, another leisure destination that could benefit from long-haul connectivity from Spain is Puerto Vallarta. This destination is currently served by TUI Airways from London Gatwick and Manchester, and in the past, it was served by Finnair from Helsinki. Why not from Spain?