Vinci Airports has finalized the acquisition of Fintech’s 29.99% stake in Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA) for a total amount of US$1.17bn.
This acquisition has made Vinci Airports the largest shareholder in the Mexican airport operator. The transaction follows the signature of an agreement with OMA’s former shareholder in July 2022.
OMA operates 13 airports in Mexico including the airports at Chihuahua, Ciudad Juarez, Culiacan and Mazatlan as well as regional and tourist airports on the Pacific coast and in the center of the country (Acapulco, San Luis Potosí, Torreon, Zihuatanejo, Durango, Zacatecas, Tampico and Reynosa). OMA also operates Monterrey International Airport, which handles about half of OMA’s passenger traffic; the city is Mexico’s industrial capital and second-largest metropolis.
Passenger traffic at OMA airports has hovered above 2019 levels since July 2022. Overall, in the first 11 months of 2022 – during which the airports handled 21 million passengers and flights to and from 170 destinations – traffic was at 99% of its 2019 level. Vinci Airports intends to maintain this momentum to address the growing demand for domestic travel and for international travel, especially to and from the USA, by starting up direct flights between Monterrey and Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and Austin, Texas. Vinci Airports will also roll out its environmental action plan aimed at net-zero emissions throughout its network by 2050.
