This Thursday, the changes to the laws of the Federal Public Administration, Airports and Civil Aviation came into force that will allow granting assignments to parastatal entities so that they can provide the public air transport service, as well as operate, exploit and build airports.
“The person in charge of the Secretariat (of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport) can grant assignment titles to parastatal entities of the Federal Public Administration, without being subject to the public bidding procedure, for the administration, operation, exploitation and, where appropriate, , construction of airports”, says the already reformed article 14 of the Airports Law.
While the modified article 10 of the Civil Aviation Law establishes that the holder of the SICT “can grant assignment titles to the parastatal entities of the Federal Public Administration to provide the public service of regular national air transport.”
After the entry into force of the changes to the laws, on this Thursday, the three airport groups listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) and the airline Volaris lost a total of 12,704 million pesos in market value. .
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA), which operates the Monterrey airport, among others, lost 5.84% in the session, while Volaris (the only airline listed on the national stock market) fell 4.98 percent. They were the two companies whose shares fell the most within the S&P/BMV IPC of the Stock Market.
The titles of Aeropuertos del Sureste (Asur), which manages, among others, the Cancun terminal, and Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), which operates Guadalajara and Tijuana, lost 2.28 and 2.22%, respectively.
sedena in charge
In addition, the reform places the Secretaries of National Defense (Sedena) and the Navy (Semar) in charge of coordinating surveillance and protection tasks in Mexican airspace.
The changes to the laws were published yesterday by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the Official Gazette of the Federation, after being expeditiously approved by the Senate on Friday, in a session held at an alternate venue where another 17 reforms were approved. legislative.
Analysts consulted assured that the changes to the legislation were proposed by the federal government in order to move towards the recovery of Category 1 before the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States.
“Nothing really is changing in substance, there has always been the necessary coordination of what happens in the airspace between the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), Sedena and Semar,” explained Rosario Avilés, an expert on issues of the aviation sector.
Avilés explained that an aviation reform had already been approved in Congress in March, but now the federal government wanted to “make the changes to the laws more evident”.
With the law published this Wednesday, the National Center for Surveillance and Protection of the Airspace is created, which will depend on the Sedena and will be responsible for monitoring and protecting the Mexican airspace.
“With the creation of the new center, what is intended is to make it very clear that it is the Sedena that is going to lead the coordination, for me that is the meaning of these laws,” said Avilés. “In the background, the airspace is not being militarized, but something that already worked before is being recognized.”
“There are substantial modifications in the rules that air transport and airport service providers are going to have to comply with. It should not be surprising that their values have fallen because these modifications may affect the ability to generate profits for investors,” commented Juan Antonio José. , aeronautical consultant.
Carlos Hermosillo, an independent stock market analyst, explained that the only reason they would have lost on the stock market this Thursday was regulatory changes.
He lost almost 5% on the BMV
Volaris resents possible effects of the Civil Aviation Law
The actions of Volaris, suffered this Thursday the “effects” that the application of the reforms approved to the Airports Law and the Civil Aviation Law will bring, which endorse the creation of a new airline in charge of the Mexican Army and pave the way for recover Category 1 in aviation safety.
In the session of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV), the papers of the ultra-low-cost airline fell 4.98% to close at a price of 20.43 pesos each. However, so far this year they have recorded an accumulated gain of 25.26 percent.
Regarding the recovery of Category 1 in aviation security, Enrique Beltranena, general director of Volaris, said he was “optimistic” about a positive result, because with the reform already published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, a step is taken so that the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) can request the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) audit, at the end of this month of May or at the beginning of June.
“Assuming a favorable assessment, we expect the US government to fully implement Mexico’s Category 1 upgrade in a few months (…) probably in July or August,” the executive stressed. Therefore, management estimates that it will be able to start operating part of this “new” capacity by the end of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Falls 2.2% in the day
GAP lost on the stock market due to new legislation
This Thursday, the shares of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) ended lower (-2.22) on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV), one day after the decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF). that reforms the laws of Federal Public Administration, the Airports Law and the Civil Aviation Law.
With the setback of yesterday’s stock market session, the papers of the operator of the Tijuana air terminal closed at a price of 310.74 pesos from the 317.81 pesos of the previous session, thereby cutting the accumulated profits in this 2023, to remain at 11.32 percent.
Raúl Revuelta, general director of the Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, highlighted that one point of the reform to said Law has to do, among other things, with the additional capacity for the Mexican government to revoke concessions and permits.
It also provides a mechanism to speed up the expropriation of private property by the state. Although, he said, it is still not clear “the impact it will have on the Mexican economy and on the operations of the company.”
“This could violate fundamental rights established in the Constitution and International Treaties, such as the right to equality (…) and freedom of trade,” he said in his recent conference with stock market analysts on the occasion of his first financial report for 2023. .
GAP operates twelve airports, including Guadalajara, Tijuana, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Manzanillo and two airports in Jamaica.
Cancun, its main airport
Asur fell more than 2% on Thursday on the Stock Market
The shares of the Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR) fell 2.28%, to 498.46 pesos per unit, in the session this Thursday on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV). This after the entry into force of the decree that reforms the laws of Federal Public Administration, the Airports Law and the Civil Aviation Law, which, among other points, seeks to protect Mexican airspace and with which the Secretary of the National Defense (Sedena) will be responsible for carrying out this surveillance.
Specialists commented that when these types of changes to the legislation are approved they tend to cause nervousness in the market, so the drop in Asur’s price this Thursday is partly related to the reforms to the organic laws on aviation. .
Since this year, the operator of airports such as Cancun, has generated a yield of 9.63 percent.
Adolfo Castro, general director of the Airport Group, said in his recent conference call with analysts that the bill establishes that the Mexican government will have the power to modify or revoke licenses, authorizations, and permits. But they are still not clear about the impact it can have on the company’s operation.
Asur manages 9 terminals, including the one in Cancún, as well as six in Colombia. It is also a 60% shareholder of Aerostar Airport Holdings, operator of the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico.
In the year earn 22.32%
OMA ends in red on the BMV
The entry into force this Thursday of the reforms to the Airports Law and the Civil Aviation Law weakened the price of Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA), whose shares fell -5.84%, to 183.56 pesos per unit, registering the largest loss of the session of this May 4 in the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) when compared with the issuers of the airport sector.
Despite having had a sharp drop in the price of their titles on the stock market on Thursday, so far this year they have a gain of 22.32%, this is double the performance generated by the other two terminal managers listed airlines, Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (Asur) and Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP).
For Ricardo Dueñas, general director of the operator of airports like the one in Monterrey, it is anticipated to measure the impact of the new reform to the aforementioned Law (which had not yet been approved when he gave this statement in a conference call with analysts).
“It is too early to say what impact it could have, not on airports, but on all businesses that have some permit or concession from the government,” said the manager.
At the same conference, Emmanuel Camacho, head of OMA’s Investor Relations, commented that the new Law allows the government to operate airlines and airports at the same time, which was previously provided, however, its scope is still uncertain.
