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Mexicana De Aviacion Celebrates 70th Anniversary With Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 February 2006, 09:00 CST

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Mexicana de Aviacion, Mexico's first airline, is celebrating today 70 years of uninterrupted service to the city of Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will present Emilio Romano, CEO, Mexicana de Aviacion, at a celebration dinner a City Proclamation in commemoration of the airline's seven decades of service and commitment to Los Angeles.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060208/NYW066 )

"Mexicana de Aviacion's contribution to the aviation industry and the City of Los Angeles is undeniable," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "We are very proud to have Mexicana's largest U.S. gateway at the Los Angeles International Airport. It is a privilege to present them with this proclamation in celebration of their 70 years of service," he added.

As a token of appreciation for the City of Los Angeles, Mexicana is unveiling a new 4-year cultural exchange program for children attending schools in Los Angeles. The program, known as "Come, Learn, and Experience the treasures of the Hispanic Culture" (Ven, Conoce y Vive la Experiencia de la Riqueza Cultural de las Raices Hispanas), will benefit 30 schoolchildren annually who excel academically during the school year. These schoolchildren will be invited to a weekend trip to Mexico City departing from Los Angeles, so they can have the opportunity to visit important historic sites and learn about the Mexican culture.

"Mexicana's service to Los Angeles is an important part of our heritage," said Emilio Romano, CEO Mexicana de Aviacion. "We have strong ties to the community and a commitment to providing our customers with the best possible service both in the air and on the ground from our largest U.S. hub, LAX. We are proud to play a role in bringing together the people of Mexico and the Los Angeles."

Making history

January 1, 2006 marked Mexicana Airlines' 70th year of uninterrupted service to Los Angeles. Mexicana's first flight to Los Angeles on January 1, 1936 carried 10 passengers, a pilot and a single flight attendant on a Lockheed Electra 10A twin-engine aircraft. The inaugural route originated in Mexico City and cruised at just under 190 miles per hour, with stops at Guadalajara, Mazatlan, Hermosillo and Mexicali before reaching Los Angeles. In the beginning, flights arrived three times a week at Grand Central Air Terminal in a suburb of Glendale. By late 1941, increased demand required seven flights per week.

Today, Mexicana offers on-line connecting service to over 30 destinations in Mexico, 3 in Central America, and 2 destinations in South America and, along with our codeshare partners, Mexicana offers service to more than 50 destinations in Mexico, Central and South America. In fact, today, Mexicana is the largest international carrier serving LAX, with 19 flights per day to cities across Mexico, including seven daily non-stop departures to Mexico City, six to Guadalajara, daily departures to both Cancun and Los Cabos, Bajio (Leon), Morelia; Oaxaca and Zacatecas, and four weekly flights to Mazatlan.

In 2005, more than 1.3 million passengers chose Mexicana for their travel between Mexico and LAX. It is estimated that the average stay of these visitors is 4 days and that they spend an average of $100 per day, an economic contribution of up to $160,000,000 exclusive of airport fees and taxes, which may exceed an additional $20 million. "We are extremely grateful for the support that our L.A.-based passengers have demonstrated to us in seven decades, making us the preferred Mexican carrier from Los Angeles and pledge to continue increasing our flights and destinations on time, every time," Romano added.

About Mexicana de Aviacion

Mexicana de Aviacion began its operations more than 84 years ago and it is therefore the airline with the fourth longest tradition in the world. Currently, it is the airline with the most extensive international coverage from Mexico and the leading transportation company between Mexico and the United States. From its operations hub in Mexico City International Airport, Mexicana flies to around 50 destinations in North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean. Its code-sharing agreements with leading international airlines, such as American Airlines, Lan Chile, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Varig and Air Canada, among many others, represents a great benefit for its passengers with the accumulation and redemption of miles, access to executive rooms, many connection possibilities and coordinated schedules with an extensive route network that covers a large portion of the world. Having the most modern fleet in the world (6.3 years on average) has allowed it to maintain one of the highest on time performance levels, with 90% reliability, and enabled it to reach the highest utilization rate of its Airbus fleet, with an average daily operation of 12:07 hours. Mexicana has the best maintenance base in Latin America. It has been recognized as the Leading Business Class in Mexico and Latin America, in addition to receiving the award as the leading airline for eight consecutive years in the same region. On July 1, Mexicana launched its low-cost airline, Click Mexicana, which offers domestic flights with its totally refurbished, cutting-edge 10 Fokker-100 aircraft. For more information visit: http://www.mexicana.com/ and http://www.clickmx.com/.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060208/NYW066AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN4PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

Mexicana de Aviacion

CONTACT: Theresa Bravo of Mexicana, +1-310-863-4288,theresabravo@mexicana.com.mx; Iveliesse Malave, +1-213-489-8292,malavei@fleishman.com, or Edna Silva, +1-213-489-8273,schwadrons@fleishman.com, or silvae@fleishman.com

Web site: http://www.mexicana.com/http://www.clickmx.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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