ASUR retail sales up by 247% in fourth quarter

Emily Pacey

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Passenger numbers at the group's Mexican airports recover after the devastating hurricane season of 2005, adding to ASUR's strong performance

Retail sales across Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste’s (ASUR) nine airports rose by 246.5% in the fourth quarter of 2006. The authority attributed the dramatic rise to an increase in international passenger traffic and a one-off payment from duty-free concessionaire Aldeasa in connection with its new retail contract at Cancún airport terminal three. Commercial revenues per passenger rose by 27.54% to Ps46.31 ($4.22) per passenger.

Total traffic at the airports, which include Cancún and Cozumel, rose by 57% in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2005, mainly due to the recovery after Hurricane Wilma halved ASUR’s passenger traffic figures at the end of October 2005. International traffic at the airports rose by 105% to reach 8.1m passengers. However, over the whole year international traffic declined by 0.98%, which the airport authority blamed on security measures implemented by the Transportation Security Administration in August 2006 in the wake of the foiled alleged terrorist plot in the UK.

ASUR said in a statement: “The subsequent relaxation of some of these measures has led to some improvement, but sales continue to be affected. We are unable to predict whether this effect will continue or for how long.”

In addition, the airport authority reported that continuing public demonstrations in Oaxaca have led to a 55% fall in the number of tourist visitors to the city. The protests began in May as a teachers’ strike but have grown into more widespread unrest against the Oaxaca state government.

ASUR said: “At this time we are unable to predict whether or how the conflict will be resolved, or how the demonstrations may affect our operations.”

Total passenger traffic at the airports rose by 3.44% in 2006 compared with the previous year, with domestic traffic rising by 10.3%. Retail revenues for the full year rose by 90.5%.