“We have not pushed for Mexico business in the past, because of the risk of backlogs and offloads.
     “American Airlines has an excellent reputation which we do not want to compromise, by accepting business we could not handle.
     “But the gloves are off with a new freighter connection.
     “Now we can accept large shipments, regular volume traffic and large pieces with total confidence.”
     Ian McCool, Managing Director of International Airline Marketing IAM, Ireland’s largest cargo GSSA, is heating up January with a drive for traffic to Mexico, following the recent signing of an interline agreement between its principal American Airlines (AA) and freighter operator Aerounion.
     The interline agreement means AA can now offer capacity to both Mexico City and Guadalajara on its daily wide-body services from Dublin and Shannon, connecting with the twice-daily A300 freighters in Los Angeles.
     The new service overcomes previously limited capacity out of Los Angeles, enabling AA to compete for Mexico shipments with European carriers who have to truck eastwards back to their hubs, before flying west.
     “The new Mexico services are being promoted to Irish freight agents with special introductory rates.”
     IAM is Ireland’s largest cargo GSSA company, representing 11 leading airlines and controlling 20% of the entire Irish export airfreight market.