CHIC SILBER

Mexico airline Mexicana files for bankruptcy Mexicana staff are resisting pay cuts Mexico's biggest airline, Mexicana de Aviacion, has filed for bankruptcy protection after failing to reach a deal with trade unions on cost cutting.

CHIC SILBER

The heavily-indebted airline said flights would continue while it restructured its finances.

Mexicana had proposed deep pay cuts for pilots and crew, as well as a 40% reduction in the workforce.

londinense

Many flights to the US already cancelled and rumours that European service ends at the end of this month. MX refuse to be drawn on this and told me earlier today that my LGW-MEX on Sept 15 is confirmed. No flights on that route loading, though, if you do a dummy booking post Sep 1.

TPJ

I was always wondering why they are expanding so rapidly (MAD, LGW, GRU) during these hard times. They would probable do much better, by sticking to their traditional short-haul (plus EZE) business model.

EDIT -just received this e-mail from MexicanaGO:

Regarding the Insolvency Proceedings in Mexico and Bankruptcy
Protection in the U.S. that our MexicanaGO Partner Airline - Compañía
Mexicana de Aviación (CMA) – filed today, we would like to clarify the
following: As stated in MexicanaGO’s Terms and Conditions which have
been dully accepted by all our Members, the company that owns, manages
and operates MexicanaGO is MexicanaLoyalty (Servicios Frecuenta).
MexicanaLoyalty is totally independent form CMA, even as they are both
subsidiaries of Grupo Mexicana. Of the 18 MexicanaGO airline partners
for GO Points accrual and redemption, three are subsidiaries of Grupo
Mexicana (Mexicana, MexicanaClick y MexicanaLink) and the balance (15)
are domestic and international airlines associated with the Program.
CMA is a very valued Airline Partner, but it is only one of close to
100 companies that offer GO Points to reward loyalty in their
products, and is only one of 18 airlines that provide Rewards in
exchange for those GO Points. The standing and balance of GO Points in
a member´s account is completely independent from the situation of CMA
or of any individual MexicanaGO Partner. The balance is the sole
responsibility of MexicanaLoyalty with no relevance to the origin of
those GO Points. Many MexicanaGO Members have GO Points earned with
companies that are no longer MexicanaGO Partners without any impact to
their balance. Regarding redeemed Reward Tickets with the different
MexicanaGO Airline Partners, these represent a contract of
Transportation between the Airline and the Passenger in the same way
that purchased tickets with cash. It is the Airline’s responsibility
to transport or protect that passenger according to each Airlines
terms of service. MexicanaLoyalty has no responsibility for this
transportation service, although we are happy to provide all the help
to ensure that Reward holders get the same treatment as any other
passengers. MexicanaGO wishes our Partner and sister company success
in this labor negotiations, however we want to clarify that the value
of the MexicanaGO Program is the combination of the strength of close
to 100 Partners, among which are 18 Airlines that cover most of the
Globe, the best hotel chains in Mexico and the World, the best
Boutique Hotels in Mexico, the best two Global Rental Car companies,
many Restaurants, the leading Credit and Service Co-Branded cards in
Mexico, and multiple Financial Institutions. We would like to take
this opportunity to thank you all for your loyalty.

Open Jaw

I also received the email from Mexicana today. I am going to limit my travel and/or earning with Mexicana until the financial problems are resolved. My hotel stay still has not been deposited into my account. Only time will tell if Mexicana will survive.

jimyvr

Reservation for MEXICANA Mainline flights is being suspended from 1800LT 04AUG10.

However, there seems to be discrepancies as of right now because selected routes on selected dates still open for reservation (CUN LAX, Domestic trunk routes still open for reservation) , but most of the mainline flights are being Zero'd out or removed from the system.

Click and Link operation remains normal.

CubsFanJohn

Personally I think that this is a bad sign of things to come.

leandrorar

Not selling international flights anymore.

Still selling national (intra-mexico) flights.

leandrorar

So, they pretend you to believe that CMA won't drag Grupo Mexicana...

jimyvr

Yes, only Domestic Mexico service are open to reservations. There were some International flights that were still available earlier are gone as well.

leandrorar

OK. Doing a little more research, I have my own answer.

MX pilots salaries are 1.5 times US-based airlines salaries. Rest of the crew is about 1.35 times.

They are selling it to the union for MXN 1 and letting the union use the brand name (Mexicana) for 6 months.

My guess is Grupo Mexicana is gonna screw employees, let the bankrupt process finish with liquidation and fire everybody.

My second guess is that Grupo Mexicana will immediately create a new company and file for the "ol' good international routes"; or that MexicanaClick or MexicanaLink will file for those routes.

kiwiandrew

I may be wrong but I don't think that a new Mexican company can file for any of the routes to the US while the FAA has Mexico downgraded to a category II country , and , if MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink are separate companies from main Mexicana operation I don't think that they can start up new ( for them ) services to the US either . Of course it may be possible to open up international services to countries other than the US , but I would have thought that Mexicos biggest and most important international market would be the US and without that it would be hard for a 'new' Mexicana to be competitive .

TPJ

I believe you are right: no capacity increase, no new airline designated as long as Mexico is downgraded to Cat 2.

londinense

I am due to fly MEX-LGW on MX next week. I see from the MEX web site that there have already been several international departures this morning (SFO, MIA, YVR etc) but wonder how long they'll keep flying. The next scheduled LG departure is tomorrow at around 1800.
I have had no personal communication from MX since they announced no new bookings.

flugvergnugen

The wikipedia Spanish site about MX says that the A330's "are scheduled to leave the fleet in September". Even if you make it out, I wouldn't count on a September return...