Continental Slashes Mexican Capacity 50%
Darren Shannon darren_shannon@aviationweek.com
Without citing the H1N1 virus, Continental Airlines today announced a 50% reduction in its Mexican capacity.
In a May 1 staff bulletin, the Houston-based carrier, which has a major presence in Mexico and Central America, said this month it is cutting 50% of its available seat miles and 40% of its flights to Mexico compared to its initial May schedule in response to lower demand.
The temporary reduction will not drop any destinations, said Continental, and the cuts will be implemented by using smaller aircraft or trimming frequencies. The carrier, however, has not disclosed an end to the temporary cuts.
Continental noted the reduction represents about 2% of its systemwide capacity. Prior to the announcement, Continental operated an average of 450 weekly flights to Mexico.
"Given the swift changes we are seeing in the marketplace, we need to react prudently but quickly to bring our capacity more into line with demand," said Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner.
"We were already experiencing soft market conditions due to the economy, and now our Mexico routes in particular have extra weakness. Our plan going forward will be to continue to monitor demand levels we are seeing and adjust our capacity and costs accordingly."
The carrier added, "Continental continues to serve all 29 of its destinations in Mexico and customers are assured that return travel from Mexico remains available, although schedules and routings may change."
Continental said it is notifying customers of options for re-accommodation on different flights and is extending its waiver policy for customers traveling to Mexico, allowing them to change their itinerary without penalty through May 31.
This is the first major U.S. carrier to drastically reduce operations to Mexico since the emergence last week of the H1N1 virus, which is commonly known as the swine flu.
Photo credit: Benet Wilson
