Aeromexico is to introduce flights between Mexico City and Amsterdam next summer, its fourth destination in Europe. The airline will introduce a three times weekly service between Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez in Mexico City and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam from May 29, 2016 operated using new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner equipment.

Adding to its long-standing routes into France and Spain, the Netherlands will be the first new country market for the Latin American carrier in Europe since it made its debut in the UK in December 2012. Alongside its long-standing routes to Madrid and Paris and new London offering, Aeromexico has also served both Barcelona and Rome during the past ten years.

The introduction of flights to Amsterdam is a logical growth for Aeromexico. Alongside the strong trading relationship between Mexico and the Netherlands, the route will feed into the SkyTeam hub of KLM providing additional connections within Europe and complement its existing offer with fellow alliance partner Air France via Paris.

“Aeromexico is extremely proud to add Amsterdam to its European route network. The Netherlands is Mexico’s fourth largest trading partner in the European Union, and nowadays, an average of 200,000 annual passengers travel between both capital cities,” said Anko van der Werff, Chief Revenue Officer, Aeromexico.

The new service will complement the up to nine times weekly existing offering of KLM between Amsterdam and Mexico City. The Dutch flag carrier boosted frequencies on this route this past summer to meet the increasing demand. It utilises a Boeing 747-400ER on the link, providing up to 2,500 weekly seats in each direction.

“With this flight, Aeromexico will be able to offer quality service to all of its customers traveling from the Netherlands on board our Boeing 787 aircraft with greater connectivity options to the main cities in Mexico, such as Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Puerto Vallarta, and in Central and South America, including San Jose, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama,” added van der Werff.

MIDT data shows that KLM has been securing healthy loads of over 90 per cent in this market and is on track this year to record its largest annual demand with more than 500 two-way passengers a day flying between Mexico City and Amsterdam. With an average annual O&D demand on the city pair of around 50,000 passengers, the connections at both ends of the route play an important role in this market, with a sizeable bridge

Analysis shows that local traffic accounted for just 20.7 per cent of KLM’s passenger demand between Amsterdam and Mexico City in 2014. Unsurprisingly, its Schiphol Airport hub plays an important role sustaining the route with 54.1 per cent of passengers starting their journey behind or finishing it beyond the European gateway. The two largest markets are Rome and Barcelona - two previous destinations of Aeromexico in Europe. There is also a sizeable bridge demand (20.8 per cent) of passengers connecting both in Amsterdam and Mexico City.