Phoenix Just Lost Its Only Nonstop to Monterrey

American Airlines is retiring its Phoenix to Monterrey nonstop on December 1. No other carrier flies that pair, which means the only direct air link between Arizona and Mexico's industrial capital disappears with it.

The airline's reasoning is straightforward. The route was running near a 60 percent load factor against an industry breakeven closer to 80 percent. As reported by TheStreet, low demand drove the decision.

I would read it differently. Leisure routes out of Sky Harbor are holding. The route that got cut is the business route. That tells you something about how much executive travel is actually moving between Arizona's semiconductor corridor and Nuevo León's manufacturing base, and the honest answer is not enough of it yet.

This is a nearshoring story wearing a travel story's clothes. Every conversation about relocating production to North America assumes people can get there. When the plane goes away, the site visit becomes a two-leg day through Dallas or Houston, and the deal that needed three visits now gets two.

The gap is fillable. Aeroméxico or Viva could take it. Arizona and Sonora have both used route incentives before. But somebody has to decide the corridor is worth defending before the schedule hardens for next year.

At Intermestic Partners this is the kind of infrastructure question we work on daily. Air service is trade policy that nobody writes down.

Source: https://www.thestreet.com/travel/american-airlines-cuts-flight-to-mexico-due-to-low-demand