Traffic from 14 GAP airports plummets

The 14 airports operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) registered a collapse in their operations as a result of COVID-19 in April.

During that month, total passengers decreased 91.5%, compared to the same period of the previous year. Domestic traffic fell 88.0%, while international traffic fell 96.0%, at annual rates.

In terms of the operation of GAP airports in Mexico, the Mexican government has not issued any travel restrictions.

However, he has strongly recommended that only essential activities be carried out and that people avoid leaving their homes whenever possible.

This has resulted in the cancellation of a large volume of domestic and international flights.

With respect to the operation of the airports in Jamaica, the government of this nation suspended all incoming international flights, except the transportation of cargo and merchandise; Only commercial flights are allowed to depart. These measures have been extended until May 30, 2020 in Mexico and until May 31, 2020 in Jamaica.

Airports

GAP operates 12 airports throughout the Pacific region of Mexico, including major cities such as Guadalajara and Tijuana, four tourist destinations in Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, La Paz, and Manzanillo, in addition to six other medium-sized cities, Hermosillo, Guanajuato, Morelia , Aguascalientes, Mexicali and Los Mochis.

In April, the highest volume airports, such as Guadalajara, Tijuana and Puerto Vallarta, had falls of 90.6%, 82.6% and 97.7%, respectively. This situation was similar to that of other regions, such as Los Cabos, which experienced a decrease of 95.2% and Guanajuato with a reduction of 93.5 percent.

The greatest contraction in international users was in Los Cabos and Montego Bay, in Jamaica, where the flow fell almost 100%; while in the national markets, the airport that the company operates in Jamaica had the greatest damages, as it did not receive any passengers throughout the month.

COVID-19

In December 2019, a new coronavirus strain, COVID-19, was reported to have appeared in Wuhan, China. Between January and February 2020, this coronavirus spread to other countries.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 outbreak was a pandemic, which caused the gradual cancellation of international flights from Canada, the United States and Europe, a fact that was reflected in the significant drop in passenger flow in Mexico and Jamaica.

Due to the pandemic, most governments have taken preventive measures to mitigate its spread.

For the operations of our airports in Mexico, the Government has not issued any flight restrictions. However, in the second week of March it was declared in phase 1 of the pandemic and for the third week of April in phase 3, strongly recommending that only essential activities be carried out and avoiding leaving home as much as possible. that has caused the cancellation of a large volume of national and international flights.

With respect to operations at airports in Jamaica, the Government suspended all incoming international flights for 14 days from March 25, 2020, with the exception of freight and cargo transportation, allowing only the departure of commercial flights. These measures have been extended until May 30, 2020 in Mexico and until May 31, 2020 in Jamaica.

This has considerably reduced the demand and availability of air travel, causing a slowdown in passenger traffic and, therefore, causing a significant adverse effect on the company‘s operations and revenues.