OMA Reports Passenger Traffic Increase Of 1.8% In December And A 0.6% Increase For The Full Year 2010

MONTERREY, Mexico, Jan. 12, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, S.A.B. de C.V., known as OMA (Nasdaq:OMAB) (BMV:OMA), reports that terminal passenger traffic at its 13 airports increased 1.8% in December 2010, as compared to December 2009. Domestic traffic increased 0.5%, and international traffic increased 8.0%. For the full year 2010, terminal passenger traffic increased 0.6% to 11.6 million passengers, with domestic traffic decreasing 0.5% and international traffic increasing 6.7%.

For the full year 2010, the airports with the largest passenger traffic increases were Monterrey, up 180,517, or 3.5%, and Chihuahua, up 82,958, or 11.1%. Airlines other than the three airlines of Grupo Mexicana increased traffic by 749,767 passengers during 2010, while the suspension of operations in August 2010 of Grupo Mexicana resulted in a reduction of 680,367 passengers. Victor Bravo, the CEO of OMA, noted, "While 2010 continued to be a difficult year for the air transport industry, OMA recorded a slight increase in full year passenger traffic as compared to 2009. The recent trends give us a positive outlook for passenger traffic in 2011."

Of total December traffic, 96.2% was commercial aviation, and 3.8% was general aviation. For the full year, the mix was 96.8% commercial aviation and 3.2% general aviation.

Total Passengers*
	Dec-09	Dec-10	Change %	Jan-Dec 2009	Jan-Dec 2010	Change %
Domestic	789,243	793,247	0.5	9,712,183	9,660,159	(0.5)
International	170,044	183,637	8.0	1,806,105	1,927,529	6.7
OMA Total	959,287	976,884	1.8	11,518,288	11,587,688	0.6
* Terminal passengers: includes passengers on the three types of aviation (commercial, charter, and general aviation), and excludes passengers in transit.

Domestic traffic increased in seven airports in December, with noteworthy increases at the Monterrey, Chihuahua, Zihuatanejo, and Tampico airports. In Monterrey, traffic increased principally on the routes to Mexico City and Cancun. In Chihuahua, traffic grew principally on the routes to Mexico City and Guadalajara. In Zihuatanejo, traffic benefitted from growth on the Toluca and Mexico City routes. In Tampico, traffic increased principally on the route to Monterrey. Domestic traffic decreased most in the airports of Acapulco, Mazatlan, Reynosa, and Torreon, where the principal factor was the suspension of operations by Grupo Mexicana. In Acapulco, Reynosa, and Torreon the largest reductions were on the Mexico City routes; in Mazatlan the route most affected was San Jose del Cabo.

For the full year 2010, domestic traffic increased at seven airports, with the most significant increases in Chihuahua and Monterrey. Traffic decreased most in Acapulco, Torreon, and Zihuatanejo.