Before their shutdown, MX held a disproportionate share of the domestic business market, but you're right it will be a challenge to get that back after such a prolonged shutdown.
There have been a lot of potential investors in MX since last August, including a few airline executives, but none of the investment groups have included an actual airline in the equation.
If the rumors and reports are true, this might be the only plan that has any chance of success, because there would be a pretty good knowledge of what needs to take place, and there would be a willing partner to funnel much needed sales to them.
That said, I'll believe it when AMR confirms it.
-- history lesson for those who haven't followed this -----------------------------------------------------------
The Mexicana story has lots of parallels to what's happened in the US airline industry, especially with Eastern.
A year ago, MX's pilots and flight attendants were extremely well paid --- >$200,000 for pilots and >$50,000 for flight attendants. You could live pretty well on that in Mexico, no?...
http://eleconomista.com.mx/corporativos/2010/08/02/contrato-pilotos-ancla-mexicana
MX was in negotiations with their pilots, and as I understand it, under Mexican law, the union had the right to petition the court to freeze MX's corporate assets during a strike or lockout. And they were facing that in August. Bankruptcy was the only legal way to avoid that from happening.
The next part is a little fuzzy... an investor, Tenedora K, bought up 95% of the shares, and the pilots bought up the remaining 5%. Because the shares were still valid, the new owners ousted senior management, after which the pilots then agreed to most of the changes the previous management had been seeking. The flight attendants? Not so quickly, but they eventually came around.
http://eleconomista.com.mx/corporativos/2010/08/02/contrato-pilotos-ancla-mexicana
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/08/27/346759/mexicana-pilots-detail-agreement-with-tenedora-k.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/08/25/346625/mexicanas-new-owners-appoint-administrator-negotiate-with.html
There was only one problem.... Tenedora didn't bring cash to the table. And they didn't provide MX with any after being approved, for reasons unclear.
Within days of Tenedora K taking control, the company ran out of money and ceased operations.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/08/28/346765/mexicana-to-cease-all-operations.html
So what was a good airline, wound up with employees who refused to deal, went into bankruptcy, and then lost all control over their future... They've been stuck in bankruptcy ever since, with several different investment groups coming in, doing due dilligence, and then opting out.
-- end of history lesson ----------------------------------------------------------
I'd like to see them emerge and resume operations, and think with the right cost structure, they'd eat Aeromexico's lunch, because from what I understand, AM has the same pilot and flight attendants union, and pretty much the same labor agreements that took down MX.
I haven't kept up with whether or not AM has restructured their agreements, or if it is just a matter of time before they go thru the same exercise that MX did. Maybe the experience of the MX pilots was enough of a warning that AM will avoid the same issues. And maybe not.
