Mexico’s Volaris hooks $87mn worth of payment deferrals

Volaris (Y4, Toluca) announced in a statement and stock exchange filing on April 14 that it was chasing “additional liquidity preservation measures,” having not quite reached its target during the first quarter of 2021. Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, the self-proclaimed ultra-low-cost carrier has implemented several initiatives under a “liquidity preservation plan,” which it claimed had yielded “significant results” during 2020. In the first quarter of 2021, the LCC said that the focus had been to combine further payment deferrals with a fleet optimisation plan that better suited the more cautious demand for travel anticipated in the post-Covid world. During that quarter, the company targeted “additional working capital relief” amounting to USD100 million, of which it had achieved payment deferral agreements worth a total of USD87 million. It also said it was working on other fleet-related initiatives aimed at “improving its competitive position” through further measures to shore up its liquidity as well as further easing the ongoing costs of the fleet. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Volaris’ current fleet consists of eighty-four Airbus narrowbodies: three A319-100s, forty-one A320-200s, twenty-five A320-200Ns, ten A321-200s, and six A321-200Ns. At least 73 of the aircraft are leased from 22 lessors. It has a further ninety-five A320neo family narrowbodies on firm order from the manufacturer, including fifty-five A320neo and forty A321neo. Volaris announced in separate filings this month that it would release its first-quarter results on April 22 and hold a general ordinary annual shareholders’ meeting on April 26.