The U.S. Commercial Service’s Mexico offices released the following new reports on Mexico in June and July, 2009.  Copies are available at the links below:

• IT Cluster Development in Monterrey;
• Mining Equipment Market;
• Airport Opportunities and Trends in the National Infrastructure Program;
• Business & Regulation Insights in the Pay-TV Market; and
• Mexico’s Retail Sector: “Selling Inside the Box”.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced on November 11, 2008 that it intends to enter into a codeshare partnership with Mexican passenger airline Volaris, a brand owned by Mexican group Concesionaria Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A. de C.V. based in Toluca, state of Mexico, according to an Austin Business Journal report.

The proposed partnership is subject to regulatory approval by the Mexican and U.S. governments.  If the deal is approved, flight schedules are expected to be announced in 2010.

VivaAerobus announced today that it will add two new flights per week between Austin, Texas and Puerto Vallarta on January 15, 2009, according to a report in today’s El Financiero. 

The Puerto Vallarta route will be the third direct Mexico flight that the airline operates out of Austin, adding to its existing Austin-Monterrey and Austin-Cancun routes. 

Last month, the airline also started offering ground transportation service for VivaAerobus customers to and from Houston and San Antonio and its Austin airport hub for US$20 each way.  The CEO and President of VivaAerobus, Mike Szucs, who was interviewed in the report, said that approximately half of the airline’s passengers in May flying from Austin came from Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio.

VivaAerobus is the only airline that offers direct flights from Austin, Texas to destinations in Mexico.  Aeromexico, which once operated an Austin-Mexico City route, cancelled the route early this year.

The bidding for a concession to construct and operate a new airport to be located near the coastal hamlet of Tulum, Quintana Roo, is expected to open before October 31, 2008, according to a Ministry of Communications and Transportation (Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes) official who was quoted in a report in today’s El Financiero. 

The report said that the airport will be capable of handling 3 million passengers annually and the concession will be awarded to the company that offers lowest construction and operational costs.  The government is expected to announce the winner of the concession in 2009.  Construction should be completed by 2012.

Companies expected to submit bids include Mexico’s three major airport operators (which were created in 2005 upon the privatization of the airport management entity): Aeropuertos del Sureste de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (ASUR), Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V. (PAC), and Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte, S.A. de C.V. (OMAB).

Tulum, located in the southern portion of the Mayan Riviera, is home to significant Mayan ruins.

The slots of Mexican low-cost start-up airline Interjet at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City will be sold at public auction in 90 days, according to a report in today’s El Financiero. 

The report said that the Mexian Airspace Navigation Service (SENEAM) was revoking the slots because Interjet failed to pay slot usage fees of approximately US$193,000, which were originally owed by Aerocalifornia and assumed by Interjet, from which Interjet acquired the slots.  Interjet may participate in the auction.  In the meantime, the report said that Interjet will need to find other slots at Benito Juarez Airport during less saturated airport hours, which are generally late at night and early in the morning. 

Interjet, which is controlled by Grupo Aleman, principally operates out of the Toluca airport near Mexico City.

Baja California is home to more aerospace companies than any other Mexican state, according to a report in today’s El Financiero.

Honeywell, Delphi, Gulfstreat, Eaton, and GKN are among the major aerospace companies with facilities in Baja.  These companies develop and manufacture electronic control systems, fuselage components, radiators, turbines, compressors, and cables, and other aircraft components.

The undersecretary of economic development of Mexico’s Ministry of Economic Development (Secretaria de Desarrollo Economico – SEDECO), who was quoted in the report, said that Baja’s aerospace industry generated 27,000 jobs in 2007.  He added that Honeywell had recently established a Technology Research and Development Center in Baja.

According to an El Financiero report, Avolar Aerolineas, S.A. de C.V. obtained an order from the Court of Tijuana requiring the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) to authorize the discount airline to temporarily continue operations following its suspension by the SCT yesterday for failure to pay airspace usage fees to the Mexican Tax Administration (SAT).  However, such authorization will not be effective until the SCT notifies the Mexican Airspace Navigation Service (SENEAM) of the authorization. 

How long will that take?  Avolar says on its website that it will commence flights on August 8, 2008.

Avolar’s amparo proceeding against the SCT contesting the grounds for its suspension is expected to continue until final resolution in the courts.

Mexican discount airline Avolar Aerolineas, S.A. de C.V. filed an amparo proceeding today against Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) seeking to overturn an SCT resolution issued yesterday that suspended the airline’s operations (effective this afternoon) for failure to pay airspace usage fees to the Mexican Tax Administration (SAT).  The proceeding, filed in the Court of Tijuana, Baja California, appears to contest the suspension on the ground that Avolar is being treated “arbitrarily” by the SCT, which is merely following the “orders” of the SAT.  Avolar said it does not expect to pay the alleged tax debt in the near term.

Yesterday the SCT also suspended the operations of another Mexican upstart airline, Polar Airlines, S.A. de C.V., which operates under the name Nova Air, for alleged failure to pay airspace usage fees.  Polar has not contested its suspension.

The expansion of U.S. and other international businesses into Mexico continued its rapid pace in the fourth quarter of 2007 and first and second quarters of 2008, including moves by:

• Honda Aircraft Company, Inc. (Greensboro, NC; light aircraft), which opened a retail sales and service outlet at Mexico City’s Toluca International Airport for HondaJet light aircraft through a joint venture with Servicios Aéreos Estrella, S.A. de C.V. (Press release here);
• Aquentium, Inc. (Palm Springs, CA; food safety, low income & disaster relief housing, energy, automotive and recycling), which formed a Mexican subsidiary, Aquentium de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. to provide low-cost and prefabricated housing (Press release here);
• Tata Consultancy Services (India; information technology), which expanded its Global Delivery Center in Guadalajara to provide IT consulting services (Press release here);
• GW Plastics (Bethel, VT; plastics), which expanded its Querétaro Mexico plant (Press release here);
• InterContinental Hotels Group, which opened its first Hotel Indigo brand hotel in a historic 100-year old hacienda in Merida (a second hotel will open in Mexico City in 2009);
• Wendy’s International, Inc. (Dublin, OH; burgers), which entered into two development agreements with two franchisees to open more than 60 Wendy’s restaurants in Monterrey and Mexico City (the existing Wendy’s Mexican franchisee, Wenco-Mexico, S.A., currently operates 12 restaurants in the northern Mexico cities of Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua) (Press release here); and
• BIAS Corporation (Atlanta, GA; Oracle systems integration and resale), which opened a Mexico city office to provide consulting service, IT staffing, and Oracle software sales.