Merger: More Mexico routes?
One silver lining for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport amid the US Airways-American Airlines merger is the possibility of a new flight or two, possibly to Mexico, the Caribbean or elsewhere in Latin America.
US Airways executives previously said a PhoenixLondon route could be possible. But that’s already doable with British Airways, which hasn’t always operated the route seven days a week. It will be interesting if American sees the demand to compete on a route another airline can’t always fill full time.
Mexico and Latin America are different. US Airways doesn’t have a huge presence south of the border today, although you can get from the Phoenix hub to desitinations such as Mexico City and Cancun. American, however, has routes out of its hubs in Dallas/ Ft. Worth and Miami to dozens of cities, from Aruba to Zihuatanejo.
Mexico City, Panama, Costa Rica. American serves them all. When the airlines combine, adding a flight between Phoenix and one of those destinations would be easier, because American already has crews in those cities.
The airline could use Phoenix as an additional gateway into the West Coast for travelers in Latin America, much
AIRLINES as it does Houston today, said Pete Garcia, an executive who spent 30 years with Continental Airlines in Houston and built up its Latin Amer- ican program.
Only about a third of travelers flying United (formerly Continental) to the Houston hub from Latin American stay in Houston now, with the rest connecting, he said. Phoenix possibly could work the same way. Connecting travelers benefit the Houston economy because they support air service that the city wouldn’t otherwise have.
“Phoenix could be there someday if American decided to use all its facilities in Latin America,” said Garcia, who now works as a cross-border business consultant. “It already has staffing and gates and ticket counters in Latin America.”
So now Arizona is losing one of six Fortune 500 corporate headquarters, stands to lose flights out of its Phoenix airport, and has limited opportunity to make hay of the mega-merger by attracting Latin Americans here. It’s fair to ask whether the state’s reputation is going to limit that potential.
Does anybody in Mexico or Latin America want to come to Arizona?
The state has made international headlines since 2007 for a series of get-tough immigration laws, from the employersanctions law that threatens business licenses to SB 1070.
Garcia says for people in Mexico, that is a challenge.
“Arizona is not on their top list of destinations to go on vacation,” he said. “The recent efforts toward ... illegal immigration and the potential questioning of legal immigrants does make Arizona a less desired place to visit.”
Professor Robert Mittelstaedt, outgoing dean of the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, disagreed, and said the immigration debates shouldn’t hurt the chances of landing Latin American flights.
“I think the immigration thing has died down somewhat, especially as some other states have issues similar to what we’ve had here,” he said.
An optimist regarding new Phoenix flights, Mittelstaedt said that there likely already are people traveling between Phoenix and Latin America via both US Airways and American, but connecting through Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami or Charlotte, and the combined current volume might open up more direct flights here.