After weekend visits to México state, Puebla, Hidalgo and Morelos to distribute pension cards to women aged 63 and 64, President Claudia Sheinbaum was back at the National Palace in Mexico City on Monday to preside over her first morning press conference of the week.
Below is a recap of her Monday mañanera.
8 Mexicana flights eliminated due to ‘review’ of airline’s ‘strategic plan,’ says Sheinbaum
A reporter asked Sheinbaum about the announcement by the state-owned, army-operated airline Mexicana that it would discontinue routes between the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) near Mexico City and airports in eight cities: Acapulco, Campeche, Guadalajara, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Nuevo Laredo, Puerto Vallarta, Uruapan and Villahermosa.
The airline, which began operations in late 2023, said on Sunday that flights between AIFA and those destinations would cease from this Monday, but didn’t say why.
Sheinbaum told reporters that Mexicana is carrying out a “review” of its operations like any other company.
“Some of the planes are leased so they have to renew the lease, the new planes are going to arrive, and they’re doing a review like at any company — which are the routes that had the most passengers, which are the routes that had the least,” she said.
“This week they’re going to present the company’s master plan to me, and Mexicana will continue being the company of the people of Mexico, it will continue flying. It’s nothing more than a review of their strategic plan for 2025,” Sheinbaum said, explaining the reduction in the number of destinations served by the airline.
Mexicana was operating 18 routes in Mexico, meaning that almost half have been discontinued. Sheinbaum suggested that new routes could replace some of those that have been scrapped.
The El Financiero newspaper reported in December that Mexicana incurred losses of more than 932 million pesos (US $45.8 million) between January and September 2024.
President sees no risk to judicial elections
Asked about a study that raised concerns about the staging of Mexico’s first-ever judicial elections due to the reduction to the National Electoral Institute’s budget and the limited amount of time to organize them, Sheinbaum declared that “there is no risk.”
“The people of Mexico will participate. On June 1 we’ll elect judges, magistrates, Supreme Court Justices, Electoral Tribunal judges,” she said.
“… In other words, together we’ll elect the judicial power,” Sheinbaum said.
“I don’t see any risk,” she reiterated.
“This week I’m meeting with the National Electoral Institute [councilors]. They already approved the budget [for the elections], they even already have proposals for the ballots and for how they will organize the election,” Sheinbaum said.
“… It will be a good election.”
Citizens will elect a total of 881 federal judges on June 1, including nine Supreme Court justices. The elections are going ahead as a result of the controversial judicial reform approved by Congress last September.
‘In the fourth transformation, commitments are fulfilled’
After she was asked about her high approval rating according to an El Financiero newspaper poll, Sheinbaum reminded reporters that when she was a candidate for president she “essentially” committed to “two things”:
- The continuation of “the transformation of public life” initiated by her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
- The ushering in of the “time for women” in Mexico.
Subsequently asked whether her first 100 days in office could be defined with the phrase “what was promised is being fulfilled,” Sheinbaum said that was an accurate assessment.
“In the fourth transformation, commitments are fulfilled,” said the president, who will reach the 100-day milestone this Thursday.
She said that she will outline the government’s achievements to date in a “brief” address at Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo, this Sunday.
In her speech, Sheinbaum said she would also “defend” the constitutional reforms that have recently been approved by Congress, “from the reform to the judicial power” to the reform that enshrined women’s rights in the Mexican Constitution.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
Source: Mexico News Daily
