After investing in a new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility with its shareholder and SkyTeam alliance partner Delta Air Lines, in Queretaro, Aeromexico is now adding the central Mexican state, one of the smallest in the country, to its global route map with the introduction of a regular link to its Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juarez hub in Mexico City from Santiago de Queretaro, the state’s capital and largest city.

Aeromexico will launch a twice daily service between Queretaro International Airport, in the region of El Bajio, and Mexico City from October 1, 2015. This will be the only link between Queretaro and the Mexican capital, which are around 220km apart but around three-and-a-half hours by road.

The flight will be operated by a 50-seat Embraer ERJ 145 and schedules have been developed to maximise transfer opportunities at Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juarez to the airline’s wider network, including over 40 Mexican cities, 16 destination in the United States, 15 in Latin America, three in Canada, three in Europe and two in Asia.

Queretaro has repeatedly been recognised as the area with the best quality of life and as the safest city in Mexico and also among the most dynamic in Latin America. It is a strong business and economic centre and a vigorous service city that is experiencing an ongoing social and economic revitalisation since the mid 1990s.

The metropolitan area has the 2nd highest GDP per capita among all of Mexico's metropolitan areas after Monterrey and the city is the fastest-growing in the country, thanks to industrial and business developments in the fields of IT and data centers, logistics services, call centres and for the manufacturing for automotive and machinery industry, chemicals and food products.

The region is also home to an increasing number of vineyards which are developing a booming wine production industry that is now the second largest in Mexico after the Baja California region. Within the aviation sector the new Queretaro International Airport, which began operations in 2004 and replaced the old Fernando Espinoza Gutiérrez International Airport in the city, has also been put on the MRO map by the new Aeromexico – Delta Air Lines TechOps Mexico joint venture.

The facility is the largest aircraft MRO centre in Latin America, with its total surface area measuring over 100,000 square meters. Its three hangars can accommodate up to nine aircraft simultaneously and represents one of the most important investments in aviation infrastructure of its kind in Mexico.

The facility, located next to the Queretaro Aerospace Park, has constructed with a total investment of $55 million from the two airlines and was opened in March last year. It has enabled work currently completed at Guadalajara International Airport to be more efficiently handles and supported an expansion of MRO capabilities for the airlines’ own aircraft and work for other carriers.

Our analysis of OAG Schedules Analyser data shows the link to Mexico City will be Aeromexico’s second regular link to Queretaro and will complement its existing three times daily offering to Monterrey. The destination is also served by low-cost carrier Volaris from Cancun, Monterrey and Tijuana, while American Eagle and United Express provide the only international services with links to Dallas and Houston, respectively. Local carrier TAR Aerolineas also currently links Queretaro to Acapulco, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Puerto Vallarta, according to the data provider.