Lufthansa , the German airline, announced that its plans for the Mexican market include increasing flights from Mexico City International Airport (AICM) to Munich by the end of 2026, thus once again ruling out a possible landing at Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) .
Frank Naeve, senior vice president of Global Sales and Distribution for Lufthansa Group Passenger Airlines, said they expect the AICM authorities to grant them the slots (takeoff and landing times) to begin the new flights.
“This decision to increase flights is recent. We will be approaching the authorities to explore the possibility of implementing this increase. We want to bring more tourism to Mexico. We will continue investing in Mexico, working with our partners in the country, and seeking opportunities in this market, which is very important to us,” he emphasized.
At a press conference commemorating the airline’s 60th anniversary of operations in Mexico , Lufthansa acknowledged the limitations on flight slots at Mexico City International Airport (AICM) , but stated that this does not diminish their interest in investing in the country. “We will discuss this with the authorities to determine the extent to which we will be able to operate additional flights,” they explained.
“We don’t have a plan B. We’ve been fighting for years to have more operations in the country, and we’re happy that our parent company is investing in and believing in Mexico. The limit of 44 operations per hour doesn’t allow us to grow in Mexico City, even though passenger demand will continue to grow in the coming years; hopefully, we can have more operations in the future,” Naeve said.
Regarding AIFA, he reiterated that it is a very good airport, but what is needed is better access for passengers to reach this infrastructure . “At the moment, we have no plans or vision for operating at Felipe Ángeles Airport in the future, but if ground transportation can be improved, it will be feasible.”
He noted that they currently operate daily flights to Frankfurt and Munich with three frequencies, so if approved by the AICM, the latter would increase to five weekly frequencies.
For the 2026 World Cup, Naeve commented that they have operations in each of the cities where games will be held , “we are seeing a lot of demand and making sure that football fans get to their matches.”
“There is a lot of additional demand, especially from Europe, to see the games, and we will be there to transport soccer fans to the 13 matches that will be played in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara,” he noted.
At a general level, Frank Naeve recalled that they will receive 220 aircraft, one every week starting this year , whose investment will be three billion euros annually until 2032, in addition to the actions they carry out in cabin service, where they allocate resources of 70 million euros, “we want the experience of traveling with us to be more comfortable going forward.”
Regarding a possible impact from the rise in jet fuel prices resulting from the conflict in the Middle East, he ruled out any problems arising from this situation, as they have a dedicated unit for the supply of this fuel, which includes advance purchases to ensure stability.
“We are reviewing flights across our network to reduce them due to the high cost of fuel. Last week, we made the decision to cut 1% of Lufthansa Group flights on short routes within Europe and also to cancel operations for a German airline that operated for us. We are talking about 20,000 flights affecting our hubs in Frankfurt and Munich; there is no impact on Mexico. We are closely monitoring this geopolitical situation to make the right decisions,” he emphasized.
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