China’s airlines are reopening direct services linking the country to Mexico after a hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic, as a wave of Chinese manufacturers set up shop in the North American production hub.
On a recent evening, a gate at Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport was busy with Chinese passengers lining up for a Hainan Airlines flight to Beijing via northern Mexico’s Tijuana. Hainan launched the long-haul route in July.
In May, China Southern Airlines also opened direct flights from Shenzhen to Mexico City, the company’s longest passenger route.
The reopening of trans-Pacific routes can be credited to the expansion of Chinese companies into Mexico.
In 2023, U.S.-based electric vehicle giant Tesla announced that it would open a new factory in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, prompting a number of Chinese to follow suit.
China’s BYD, which has overtaken Tesla to become the world’s largest EV manufacturer, is also considering building a factory in Mexico and is in the final stages of selecting a site.
BYD has received offers from over 20 Mexican states and has narrowed down its final candidates to three states, according to Bloomberg. Details of the factory, which is expected to employ 10,000 people, could be announced within a few months.
The Shenzhen-based company held a new vehicle launch ceremony in Mexico City in May, the company’s first outside of China. BYD Americas President Stella Li, who attended the ceremony, said that the Mexican factory will mass-produce EVs for Latin America.
For as long as the U.S. government maintains its tariff policies targeting Chinese EVs, the automaker plans to focus on the Latin American market.
Expectations for growth in the Mexican market are high. Wages are lower there than in the U.S., and a free trade agreement allows tariff-free exports to the U.S. under certain conditions. All of these have contributed to a high demand for direct flights.
Mexican Secretary of Tourism Miguel Torruco Marques revealed that Aeromexico, the country’s largest airline, is considering resuming its Mexico-Shanghai route, according to local media. Its Narita-Mexico City route connecting the capital with Tokyo remains popular.
Up to now, businesspeople heading from China to Mexico have often used All Nippon Airways’ Narita-Mexico City route. (https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/China-Mexico-flights-reopen-amid-manufacturers-Latin-American-push)
