mcallen international airport

MCALLEN, Texas - There are positive growth trends at McAllen International Airport, according to City of McAllen Aviation Director Elizabeth Suarez.

“We continue to report positive growth trends for this year. Our first slide shows a three percent overall growth from last year. The more important news is load factors are up approximately six percent. This is despite market seats being down slightly about four percent,” Suarez said, in her monthly power point presentation to the McAllen Economic Development Corporation’s board of directors.

“The next slide shows month to month activity. We continue to outperform 2019, which is a good baseline for us, again, reminding everybody that that yellow line, 2021, is an outlier right after pandemic travel had really ramped up.”

Suarez said McAllen International Airport is outperforming last year by about three percent.

Editor's Note: For the full story go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service website. 

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

MCALLEN, Texas - A discussion took place at a recent McAllen Economic Development Corporation board meeting on whether McAllen International Airport could become a major hub or a mini hub for flights into Mexico.

McAllen EDC President Keith Patridge said an excellent partnership being developed between Aeromar and the City of McAllen could just catapult McAllen International Airport to mini-hub status.

Fabricio Cojuc, executive director for network strategy and alliances at Aeromar, was more bold. He said there is no reason the airport could not be a major hub. Before the discussion took place, Cojuc gave a powerpoint presentation about the growth of Aeromar and its plans for McAllen. 

Aeromar currently flies directly from McAllen to Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. Cojuc said he is currently looking at three more direct flight destinations in Mexico but did not name them.

“We really want to support Liz, and the City, and Aeromar,” said Patridge.

“What they are doing in Mexico is really going to be a strategic advantage for us because, in effect, what we are doing and forgive me, Fabricio, I kind of throw this out there: I think what we are basically doing is creating a mini-hub into Mexico.”

The “Liz” Patridge was referring to was Liz Suarez, aviation director for McAllen International Airport. In her report to the MEDC board, Suarez said passenger traffic is up 100 percent, year-to-date. 

“That is good. We have load factors up about 17 percent and flights to market are up about 45 percent. We are currently capturing 49 percent of the RGV market share, as well,” Suarez said.

In his discussion about Aeromar, Patridge said the direct and one-stop network the airline is developing out of McAllen is great news for maquiladora companies and their suppliers in Reynosa and McAllen.

Editor's Note: To read the full story go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service's website. 

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

MCALLEN, Texas - The director of McAllen Aviation Airport says her airport is “doing phenomenally well” following the downturn in flights caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Elizabeth Suarez gave her analysis to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service at a news conference held to announce a $5.4 million grant from the federal government. The money is being used to cover maintenance and operations costs.

“We are doing phenomenally well. We are very excited. In April we announced a new service to Monterrey and to Nashville. Right after April and May we announced a new service to Guadalajara, connecting to Vallarta and it is going very well,” Suarez said, when asked how McAllen International Airport is recovering from the pandemic.

“We have seen a 70 percent increase from last year and we are trending from April thru June higher than 2019, which was our highest year on record. It is good story to tell.”

Suarez said she will have a better idea on long term projections come the Fall.

“There were industry projections that this was going to take a lot longer. Leisure travel, like you said, the demand was there and that is what we are seeing now. The true test will be come Fall. Do we see business travel come back? If that comes back we are very optimistic about that will look like.”

Suarez thanked U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez for helping to secure $5.4 million via the Airport Relief Funding process. Previously, McAllen International Airport received $4 million and $3 million in response to COVID-19.

“Airports are a key component of not only infrastructure and economic development but just overall quality of life. We were hit so drastically during COVID. We were one of the first industries to feel a really heavy burden as we worked through this last year,” Suarez explained.

Suarez said the new money is being used for operations and maintenance costs. 

“Even though we did not have many passengers, we still had to ramp up our maintenance costs and sanitation costs… to ensure we were compliant with CDC recommendations.”

CDC stands for the Centers for Disease Control.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.