VINCI Airports has finalised the acquisition of Fintech's 29.99% stake in OMA (Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte) for a total amount of US$1.17 billion (£959 million), thereby becoming the largest shareholder in the Mexican airport operator. The transaction follows the signing of an agreement with OMA's former shareholder in July 2022. With this stake in a company holding a concession that will mature in 25 years, VINCI Airports is moving into Mexico and, as OMA's largest shareholder, will contribute to operating 13 airports in a country with high growth potential:
Monterrey International Airport (the airport handles about half of OMA's passenger traffic, while the city is Mexico's industrial capital and second-largest metropolis);
the airports at Chihuahua, Ciudad Juarez, Culiacan and Mazatlan and
regional and tourist airports on the Pacific coast and in the centre of the country (Acapulco, San Luis Potosí, Torreon, Zihuatanejo, Durango, Zacatecas, Tampico and Reynosa). Passenger traffic at OMA airports has hovered above pre-health-crisis levels since last July. Overall, in the first 11 months of the year – during which the airports handled 21 million passengers and flights to and from 170 destinations –, traffic is at 99% of its 2019 level. VINCI Airports will maintain this momentum to address growing demand for domestic travel in the Americas' third-most-populated country and for international travel, especially to and from the United States, by starting up direct flights between Monterrey and Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit and Austin. VINCI Airports will also roll out its environmental action plan aimed at net zero emissions throughout its network by 2050.
