Dubai’s Emirates scraps plans for Mexico City route via Barcelona

Dubai’s Emirates is abandoning plans for a fifth freedom route to Mexico City via Barcelona, the carrier confirmed on Monday.

The airline had been exploring the potential of the route to increase its footprint in Central America having previously been forced to put plans for flights to Panama City on hold.

In March, the Spanish regulator approved flights from Barcelona to Mexico City, leading Aeromexico to cancel plans for its own service.

An Emirates spokesperson said in an update that the Mexican government had only offered it rights for three flights a week, making the service unviable.

“Emirates has extended full flexibility in proposing an operating schedule that utilises low demand slots at Mexico City International Airport,” the spokesperson said.

“However, despite previous assurances that slots were not an issue at the flight timings requested, the Mexican authorities have informed us that we will not be able to operate daily services, but only three flights a week.”

The decision was described as “hugely disappointing” after efforts with various stakeholders to make the route a reality following an invitation from Mexico’s president three years ago.

Mexico is the only country with a population of more than 100 million where Emirates is not operating passenger flights.

“We remain positive about the potential of serving Mexico in the future when the conditions enable us to do so,” the spokesperson added.

Emirates revived the prospect of non-stop flights to Panama in April after chief commercial officer Thierry Antinori indicated talks were continuing.

Antinori said at the time that non-stop services to Mexico City via Dubai may not be viable due to the Mexican capital’s high altitude.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates revives prospect of world’s longest flight to Panama

The carrier also began another fifth freedom route to Santiago, Chile via Sao Paolo, Brazil in July, adding to existing services to New York via Milan and Athens.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates announces flights to Chile’s Santiago