Ahead of this year's Routes Americas forum, Routesonline is providing a snapshot on the leading airlines and airports and most used aircraft types across the region. Here we look closely at the airlines serving Central America and highlight the region's top performers.
The data is all supplied by OAG Aviation using its OAG Schedules Analyser tool.
Scheduled Air Capacity From Central America (2005 - 2014)
Our analysis of published schedules for the past ten years shows that air capacity within and from Central America has risen from 65,973,868 available seats in 2005 to 84,717,514 available seats in 2014. This represents a growth of 28.4 per cent across the period, an average annual increase of 3.2 per cent. In the past year capacity increased 8.3 per cent.
Top Ten Airports in the Central American Market (2014)
Mexican airports dominate air travel within and from Central America holding seven of the top ten positions. Mexico City’s Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez leads the way with a 26.4 per cent share of available capacity within and from Central America in 2014, with a 6.9 per cent growth in network capacity in the region versus 2013.
Cancun International Airport is the second largest facility in the region with an 11.0 per cent capacity share, while Panama City’s ‘Hub of the Americas’, Tocumen International Airport, is the largest airport outside of Mexico with a 10.0 per cent capacity share, up 0.4 percentage points on 2013 following a 12.1 percent growth last year. Costa Rica’s Jan Jose Juan Santamaria International Airport and San Salvador’s Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in El Salvador completes the list of non-Mexican airports in the top ten.
Fastest Growing Airports in the Central American Market (2010-2014)
Looking at capacity data in the region across a five year period, it is Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport that has grown by the biggest margin with capacity up 94.0 per cent from 2010, as it lives up to its name as ‘Hub of the Americas’ supporting the network growth of Copa Airlines. Notable growth during this timescale was also recorded by Belize City’s Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport (up 69.0 per cent) and Del Bajío International Airport, which serves traffic across an area of Mexico that includes the city of León and the state capital Guanajuato (up 52.1 per cent).
Data comparison between 2013 and 2014 shows that Del Bajío International Airport, which serves traffic across an area of Mexico that includes the city of León and the state capital, Guanajuato, has seen the largest year-on-year growth among the top 20 airports in this region with capacity rising 32.1 per cent over the 12 month period.
A further eight airports all reported double-digit capacity growth in the region, led by Belize City’s Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport (up 18.9 per cent), Villahermosa’s Carlos Rovirosa Pérez International Airport (8.4 per cent)and Puerto Vallarta’s Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport (up 17.9 per cent).
The others were Mérida’s Manuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport (up 13.9 per cent), Guatemala City’s La Aurora International Airport (up 12.2 per cent), Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport (up 12.1 per cent), Veracruz’s General Heriberto Jara International Airport (up 11.0 per cent) and Monterrey’s General Mariano Escobedo International Airport (up 10.9 per cent).
The schedules highlight that only one of the top 20 airports in Central America reported capacity declines between 2013 and 2014: Hermosillo’s General Ignacio Pesqueira García International Airport (down 2.1 per cent), which has seen capacity decline by around a quarter over the past ten years.
Scheduled Central American Capacity by Aircraft Type
The chart below shows which aircraft types were most prevalent in the Central American market during 2014. The schedule data shows the Airbus A320 (320) is the most widely used aircraft type in this market with a 26.1 per cent share of available seats with overall network capacity up 12.4 per cent between 2013 and 2014 from 19.68 million seats to 22.11 million seats.
The second most utilised aircraft type in this market is the Boeing 737-800 (738) with a 15.9 per cent share, while third most widely operated type by network capacity is the Airbus A319 (319) with a 7.7 per cent share.
The biggest rise in annual capacity among the top ten aircraft types were recorded by the Embraer ERJ-145 (ER4) with a 468.8 per cent rise in available domestic seats in 2014 versus 2013. The largest decline in annual capacity was recorded by the older generation Boeing 737-300 (733) with a fall of 13.6 per cent versus 2013, albeit it remains the fifth most used aircraft type in the region.
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