How the Americas is Coping with the Pandemic

This summary addresses the diverse and adaptive strategies employed by different countries in response to the pandemic, with a focus on Mexico’s evolving role in international travel. Mexican airports, especially Mexico City, have become pivotal transit hubs due to the United States and Canada’s mandatory quarantine measures affecting travelers from Europe and Asia. This has led to an influx of travelers using Mexico as a stopover. Central America’s stringent travel restrictions, particularly in El Salvador and Panama, have resulted in increased air traffic in Mexican cities like Tapachula. Conversely, South American countries like Colombia and Peru have maintained more open airport policies. However, regions like Buenos Aires are completely closed, limiting connectivity with Mexico. Amidst these changes, Cancun stands out as one of the top global destinations during the pandemic, aiming to restore a significant portion of its air traffic by the end of the year. This situation presents Mexican airports with a unique opportunity to forge new agreements with international airlines, potentially expanding their role as key distributors in North and Central America and enhancing connections to previously distant markets due to revised air travel routes, frequencies, and slots.

There is no recipe or secret formula to manage the pandemic, each destination has a different recovery plan, and each segment and hotel, airline, or tour operator plays other keys in this symphony of conviviality. As a consequence of official dispositions of the Mexican government, the state governments, municipalities, and foreign alerts, tourists find themselves waiting for their return to Mexico.

However, in this mix of political strategies, we find that Mexican airports are retaking what once was Puerto de la Vera Cruz, the gateway to America. Canada and the United States decided to implement a mandatory 15-day quarantine for a large number of citizens from European and Asian countries. This has forced many citizens with visas but not residency in the U.S. and Canada to land in Mexico City and spend 15 days making time.

Countries in Central America have taken drastic measures to close borders and airports, such as El Salvador and Panama, the two most important airports in Central America. This has caused Tapachula to see its air activity skyrocket during the pandemic.

In South America Colombia and Peru have taken a more permissive policy than Mexico, keeping airports open and reinforcing measures. At the time of the repatriations, Peru even tried to control the drop in hotel occupancies by receiving many Hispanic Americans who could not reach their countries. There are measures similar to those in Central America in the Southern Hemisphere. There are total closures of airports in Buenos Aires; however, these latitudes are already out of the possibility of connectivity with Mexico.

Meanwhile, Cancun remains one of the three busiest destinations globally during the pandemic and proposes to reach 70% of air traffic by the end of the year. It seems that Mexican airports now have the opportunity to close agreements with international airlines to become an even more important distributor for North and Central America. Frequencies, slots, and routes are being redefined, and this can bring us closer to markets that were previously farther away due to air bureaucracy.

How the Americas is Coping with the Pandemic

How the Americas is Coping with the Pandemic

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