Grupo Aeroméxico S.A.B. de C.V

What it is

Aeroméxico is Mexico’s only full-service airline offering long-haul, wide-body flights, connecting over 50 international cities across 24 countries. It was founded as Aeronaves de México in 1934 and today operates as the holding company for the country’s flag carrier alongside a loyalty programme, cargo operations, and a maintenance joint venture with Delta Air Lines.

As of mid-2025, Aeroméxico held a 36.3% market share of passengers flying within, to, and from Mexico, according to AFAC data. Low-cost rivals Volaris and Viva Aerobus together hold about 70% of Mexico’s domestic market, so Aeroméxico’s edge lies in long-haul international and premium business travel, not short domestic hops.

Who owns it

After the November 2025 IPO, Apollo Global Management remains the largest shareholder with roughly 19.1%, while Delta Air Lines — holding about 20% — could soon overtake Apollo as the primary shareholder. Funds managed by Silver Point Capital hold approximately 9%.

There is no controlling Mexican family or state entity; the company is institutionally owned after emerging from bankruptcy.

Delta entered a four-year lock-up agreement and did not sell any shares in the IPO offering. The airline said it would retain broad discretion over IPO proceeds, with stated uses including fleet expansion, customer-experience investment, and maintenance obligations.

Who runs it

Andrés Conesa has been Aeroméxico’s Chief Executive Officer since 2005 — an unusually long tenure for the airline industry. He holds a PhD in economics from MIT and a bachelor’s degree from ITAM in Mexico City.

CFO Ricardo Sánchez Baker has been central to the relisting process; the Wikipedia filing also lists Santiago Diago as Chief Operating Officer and Angélica Garza as Chief Human Resources Officer. In 2026, Conesa is set to become the first Latin American airline CEO to receive the APEX CEO Lifetime Achievement Award, at the APEX FTE EXPO Asia in Singapore.

The money, in plain words

Aeroméxico kept about 6.6 cents of profit from every dollar of sales in 2025 — a net profit margin of 6.6% (our calculation) — down sharply from 11.0% in 2024 (our calculation), as revenue slipped 4.6% year on year (our calculation) to $5.36bn. The airline is profitable, but the margin is compressing at the wrong moment.

The balance sheet carries a structural warning: total liabilities of $7.79bn exceed total assets of $7.19bn, leaving stockholders’ equity at negative $594m — meaning, in accounting terms, the business is still funded more by creditors than by owners, a legacy of its Chapter 11 restructuring. Cash on hand of $997m provides a useful cushion, but return on equity is not a meaningful metric here, because equity itself is still in the red.

What it is doing now

Aeroméxico returned to the New York Stock Exchange in November 2025 after four years of restructuring — the dual listing, on both the NYSE and the Mexican Stock Exchange, marks the culmination of the post-bankruptcy plan. The offering raised approximately $222.8m in the United States, with American Depositary Shares priced at $19 each.

The more pressing issue is a regulatory fight over its US–Mexico partnership with Delta. The US Department of Transportation ordered Delta and Aeroméxico to terminate their joint venture, ruling it distorts competition in US–Mexico markets, with antitrust immunity set to end on January 1, 2026.

A federal appeals court temporarily froze that order, delaying any break-up until at least late summer 2026.

What to watch

• The Delta ruling. The DOT stressed its order does not prohibit arms-length cooperation — codesharing, frequent-flyer reciprocity, and marketing agreements may continue, and Delta may keep its equity stake — but a final court decision in mid-2026 will determine how much revenue coordination Aeroméxico loses.
• Margin recovery. Net margin fell from 11.0% in 2024 to 6.6% in 2025 (our calculation); the airline has hedged around half of its 2026 fuel requirements to limit one key cost, but revenue must grow to rebuild profitability.
• On-time leadership. Aeroméxico was recognised by Cirium as the world’s most on-time global airline in both 2024 and 2025 — a rare commercial asset, because punctual airlines retain corporate travellers willing to pay premium fares.
• Negative equity. Until liabilities fall below assets, the balance sheet constrains how aggressively the company can borrow for fleet growth.

This is news, not investment advice.