Mexico-based ultra-LCC Volaris will take 25 more Airbus A321neos, citing a previously undisclosed purchase agreement signed eight months ago.

The order was disclosed at the Paris Air Show June 20 and takes Volaris’ backlog to 143 A320neo family aircraft.

Volaris president and CEO Enrique Beltranena said the size of the order demonstrates the Indigo Partners-backed carrier’s financial strength and will support its network expansion in Mexico’s domestic market, as well as on routes to the US and Central America.

Volaris has expanded rapidly in recent years, gaining share during the pandemic where rivals have faltered. The airline’s market share of seat capacity from and within Mexico has risen to 30.7%, compared with 24% in 2019. Total weekly capacity is up by 44% versus pre-COVID levels to about 680,000 seats, OAG Schedules Analyser data show.

In May, the airline unveiled plans to launch 40 new domestic routes from July 11, many of which are unserved at present. The new services will connect 16 cities with leisure, beach and business destinations across Mexico. 

However, Volaris’ planned growth to the US continues to be hampered by the FAA’s decision to downgrade Mexico’s safety rating in May 2021 to Category 2. The downgrade is against the Mexican aviation system, not against individual airlines, but it means Mexican airlines have not been able to add new routes and frequencies to the US and the ruling prevents equipment changes, such as swapping in larger aircraft.

Speaking at Routes Americas 2023 in March, Volaris director of strategy and network planning Wei Jin said he was hopeful that Category 1 would be restored by the end of the third quarter. However, Volaris has been able to deploy additional seats to the US from its subsidiaries in Costa Rica and El Salvador.

“Having the additional AOCs has helped to diversify the business and played into our hands when Mexico was downgraded to Category 2,” Jin said.

“We were able to ship more capacity to our other airlines in Central America. Costa Rica and El Salvador are similar markets to the US as Mexico, given that VFR traffic is strong, so it has been a natural transition.”

Volaris became an Airbus customer in 2006, and since then the airline has ordered 206 A320 family aircraft, including more than 170 neos.