LatinNews Daily - 23 December 2025

*Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that Mexico’s new antitrust and competition watchdog Comisión Nacional Antimonopolio would consider the details of the planned merger announced on 18 December by local budget airlines Volaris and Viva Aerobus. According to a joint statement, the merger, which seeks to offer more flights at lower prices for passengers, would give each airline a 50% stake in the new company, which is to be known as ‘Grupo Más Vuelos’ while the two airlines would maintain their separate identities, brands, and operations. The transaction is expected to close in 2026 while the shares of the holding company will remain listed publicly on the Mexican and New York stock exchanges. In her daily press conference, President Sheinbaum hailed the “special alliance” between the two companies as “very good” but denied it was a merger. A 19 December report by Reuters, which had exclusively reported that the two companies were nearing a deal, reports that, among Mexican carriers, the two “represented a combined 69% of passengers carried in the year through October”, with the merger likely to be opposed by competitors. It comes amid recent setbacks for Mexico’s aviation sector after the US Department of Transportation rejected 13 flight routes by Mexican airlines into the US, while in September the US revoked antitrust immunity for an agreement between Mexico’s flag carrier, Aeroméxico, and US airline Delta Air Lines.

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