(Photo: special)

This Wednesday, February 15, the Aeromar airline, informed by a press release, the definitive cessation of its operations, after 35 years of uninterrupted flights in Mexico, the United States and Cuba.

There Airline company reported that the decision was made by a series of financial problems it is going through, as well as the difficulty of concluding agreements on viable terms allowing it to ensure its long-term operations.

It reads that the company’s team has made deep financial adjustments to improve its situation, however, “in an unfavorable environment, aggravated during the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19the measures taken were not enough to stabilize the company’s situation”.

It is confirmed that from February 15, Aeromar will stop flying to and from the Mexico City, Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Cancún, Chetumal, Ciudad Victoria, Colima, Cozumel, Guadalajara, Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Ixtepec, Mazatlán, Mérida, Monterrey, Piedras Negras, Puerto Escondido, Puebla, Puerto Vallarta, Tepic and Villahermosa, in Mexico; Havana, Cuba; and Laredo, Texas, and McAllen, Texas, in the United States.

There Aviation Pilots Union Association (ASPA) revealed that in the event of non-compliance with Aeromarwith the payment of its debts and because of the crisis in its operations, an imminent outbreak of a strike is being prepared for next Thursday, February 16.

José Alonso, ASPA spokespersonsaid that the airline has so far not shown the solvency to meet the debts it owes to its workers, let alone to other players in the sector, such as the AICMTherefore, “we must do the same to defend ourselves.”

80% of flights have been cancelled.  REUTERS/Luis Cortes
80% of flights have been cancelled. REUTERS/Luis Cortes

He said that “it’s almost a given, with a probability of 95%, that next thursday we will strikethere remains a remote possibility that Aeromar pays part of its debts or an investor appears”.

He also said that this Thursday, February 16, at 7:00 p.m., they could put the red and black flags on the counters of Aeromar, at the AICM. He commented that the meeting held on February 14 was informative and that the pilots of Aeromarthe details of what happened.

“The supposed Brazilian investor was supposed to show up yesterday, and he didn’t show up; we await the warning that the AICM has given them that if they don’t pay 522 million pesos on February 15, until 11:59 p.m. on the 16th, they will no longer be allowed to operate,” Alonso said.

“We leave open the possibility that if the investor exists and if he reaches an agreement with the AICM and the creditors you have, you can continue, we preponderate the work and it can continue,” he said.

Aeromar workers wait for a company representative to appear.  REUTERS/Luis Cortes REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT
Aeromar workers wait for a company representative to appear. REUTERS/Luis Cortes REFILE – QUALITY REPEAT

Information disseminated by the sector news portal Transport and Logistics, Air, Maritime, Land and Rail, T21pointed out that if the representative of the Brazilian company did not show up this Wednesday, it is almost a fact that Thursday, a workers’ strike broke out.

Humberto Gual Argel, general secretary of BLADEFor his part, he said that no one knows the investor, so the strike is imminent for this Thursday.

The last days, Gual Argel stressed that the union’s top priority is the future of airline workersso there are already talks to place pilots in other airlines.

And it is that, as we know, Aeromar has gone through moments of uncertainty due to the financial mismanagement and consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the portal specializing in questions of aeronautics, In the air, Aeromar already adds more than 5 billion pesos of debtof which a little more than 120 million pesos are due in wages and benefits not accruing to its employees; 500 million pesos in commitments to the AICM; and more than 74 million pesos in debt to Airports and Auxiliary Services (ASA).

Aeromar workers are expected to go on strike on Thursday.
Aeromar workers are expected to go on strike on Thursday.

It should be remembered that at the end of January, the The Secretary of the Navy (SEMAR) guarded the airline hangars located at the AICM.

Images have been circulating on social media where notices can be seen placed on airline counters in the AICM’s Terminal Two (T2), advising that the flights were cancelled. In internet records and tracking platforms, the airline’s flights are already listed as canceled on all its routes.

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