Northern Pacific Airways has applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) under DOT Docket DOT-OST-2022-0092-0001 to conduct passenger, mail and cargo operations to Mexico under the Air Transport Agreement between the two countries. The company is asking DoT to approve this application as soon as possible.
The startup had previously applied to the U.S. authorities to provide services in Asia, the destinations planned by the company are Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, South Korea, the situation of Asian markets is unstable, just some nations are gradually beginning to relax health restrictions by COVID-19 and Russian airspace bans, as a result of the war between Russia and Ukraine, which causes diversions in most transpacific routes.
With this application, Northern Pacific could capture one of the most important international markets in the United States, currently nine U.S. airlines offer flights between the U.S. and Mexico, the airline intends to fly between the two nations later this year on Boeing 757-200 aircraft.
With the approval of this application, the startup aims to improve competition and offer passengers more travel options. Mexico was downgraded by the FAA to CAT II last year, which prevents Mexican operators from starting or increasing capacity on routes to the U.S. Northern Pacific could take some of this substantial demand.
While there may be a possibility of connecting Mexico to Asia via Alaska, demand remains depressed, with Aeromexico recently removing its Tokyo – Narita (NRT) and Seoul – Incheon (ICN) routes from its winter schedule. Northern Pacific may choose to connect some U.S. West Coast cities with major Mexican vacation destinations.
According to data obtained by Aviacionline through the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC), 17,412,326 passengers have been mobilized between Mexico and the United States in the first half of 2022, with an occupancy factor of 86.1% in 139,623 air operations.
