Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S.A.B. de C.V. (ASUR), an international airport group with operations in Mexico, the U.S. and Colombia, today announced that total passenger traffic for September 2020 decreased 58.6% when compared to September 2019. Passenger traffic decreased 48.7% in Mexico, 47.9% in Puerto Rico and 86.2% in Colombia, impacted by severe downturns in business and leisure travel stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
This announcement reflects
comparisons between September 1 through September 30, 2020
and from September 1 through September 30, 2019.
Transit and general aviation passengers are excluded for Mexico and Colombia.
|
Passenger Traffic Summary |
|||||||
| September | % Chg | Year to date | % Chg | ||||
| 2019 | 2020 | 2019 | 2020 | ||||
| Mexico | 2,219,687 | 1,139,377 | (48.7) | 25,783,861 | 11,548,726 | (55.2) | |
|
Domestic Traffic |
1,288,816 | 820,718 | (36.3) | 12,367,374 | 6,133,129 | (50.4) | |
|
International Traffic |
930,871 | 318,659 | (65.8) | 13,416,487 | 5,415,597 | (59.6) | |
|
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
571,010 | 297,505 | (47.9) | 7,072,180 | 3,505,793 | (50.4) | |
|
Domestic Traffic |
513,775 | 288,157 | (43.9) | 6,315,138 | 3,265,711 | (48.3) | |
|
International Traffic |
57,235 | 9,348 | (83.7) | 757,042 | 240,082 | (68.3) | |
| Colombia | 1,013,803 | 140,005 | (86.2) | 8,807,551 | 2,821,728 | (68.0) | |
|
Domestic Traffic |
866,614 | 132,278 | (84.7) | 7,457,666 | 2,411,973 | (67.7) | |
|
International Traffic |
147,189 | 7,727 | (94.8) | 1,349,885 | 409,755 | (69.6) | |
|
Total Traffic |
3,804,500 | 1,576,887 | (58.6) | 41,663,592 | 17,876,247 | (57.1) | |
|
Domestic Traffic |
2,669,205 | 1,241,153 | (53.5) | 26,140,178 | 11,810,813 | (54.8) | |
|
International Traffic |
1,135,295 | 335,734 | (70.4) | 15,523,414 | 6,065,434 | (60.9) |
Since March
16, 2020, various governments have issued flight restrictions for
different regions of the world to limit the breakout of the COVID-19 virus.
With respect to the airports ASUR operates:
As announced on March 23, 2020, neither Mexico
nor Puerto Rico have issued flight bans, to
date. In Puerto Rico, the Federal Aviation
Authority (FAA) has accepted a request from the Governor of Puerto Rico that all flights bound to Puerto Rico land at LMM Airport, which is operated by
ASUR’s subsidiary Aerostar, and that all arriving passengers be screened by
representatives of the Puerto Rico Health Department. On March
30, 2020, the Governor of Puerto Rico,
through an executive order of indefinite term, imposed a two-week quarantine on
all passengers arriving at the LMM Airport. Therefore, LMM Airport remains open
and operating, albeit with substantially reduced flight and passenger volumes.
To further strengthen health
controls on arrival, starting July 15, the Governor
of Puerto Rico began implementing the following
additional measures. All passengers must wear a mask, complete a mandatory
flight declaration form from the Puerto Rico Health Department, and submit
negative results of a PCR molecular COVID-19 test taken 72 hours prior to
arrival to avoid having to undergo the two-week quarantine. Passengers can also
opt to take the COVID-19 test in Puerto Rico (not
necessarily at the airport), in order to be released from quarantine (estimated
to take between 24-48 hours).
In Colombia, all incoming international flights, including connecting flights in Colombia, were suspended by the Colombian government starting March 23, 2020. This suspension has been extended through August 31, 2020, with exceptions for humanitarian emergencies, transportation of cargo and goods, and fortuitous events or force majeure. Similarly, domestic air travel in Colombia was suspended starting March 25, 2020. Consequently, ASUR’s commercial aviation operations at the Enrique Olaya Herrera de Medellín, José María Córdova de Rionegro, Los Garzones de Montería, Antonio Roldán Betancourt de Carepa, El Caraño de Quibdó and Las Brujas de Corozal airports were suspended starting as of such dates.
The Colombian government
allowed domestic flights to resume on July 1, 2020,
starting with pilot tests for domestic routes between cities with low levels of
contagion. The Colombian government has delegated to municipal administrations
the power to request approval from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry
of Transport and Aerocivil (the aeronautical authority in Colombia) to resume domestic flights from or to their
municipalities. As a result, both municipalities involved would be required to
agree in order to restart such domestic flights.
In full compliance with the
implementation of biosafety protocols contained in Resolution 1054 issued by
the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Colombia
in 2020, the airports José María Córdova in Rionegro, Olaya
Herrera in Medellin and Los Garzones in
Monteria, have restarted commercial passenger flights beginning September 1, 2020 within the initial phase of gradual
connectivity announced by the civil aeronautical authorities of Colombia. In addition, Carepa and Quibdó airports
resumed operations on September 21, while Corozal
airport restarted operations on October 2, 2020.
– eTurboNews | Trends | Travel News
