Mexican airline Volaris slides on jet fuel jump, engine issues

Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion SAB de CV

26/09/2023 20:21

** Shares in Mexican airline Volaris sink to a three-year low as
the cost of jet fuel jumps and the carrier is forced by
enginemaker Pratt & Whitney to ground planes for inspections
    ** "Volaris does not have sufficient flexibility to pass on
the increase in jet fuel costs to consumers, since it tries to
encourage travel through the lowest, most competitive prices
possible," say analysts at Intercam Banco
    ** The airline was also hit by enginemaker Pratt & Whitney's
calls for lengthy quality inspections for Airbus A320neo jet
engines due to a rare manufacturing flaw, Intercam adds
    ** A320neo aircraft make up more than half of Volaris'
fleet, and Raytheon has said a sizeable portion of the total
A320neos produced will be pulled for inspection
    ** "Volaris has had to ground 12 planes due to this
situation, of which, four were already scheduled for regular
maintenance," Intercam says
    ** Shares fall to their lowest level since August 2020,
sinking 8% in mid-day trading
    ** Volaris' stock prices have nearly halved in the past
three months

 (Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)
 ((Kylie.Madry@thomsonreuters.com))