Hahn Upbeat About Mexican Trade Deals

MEXICO CITY —  Following up a day of largely symbolic meetings with Mexican officials, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn wrapped up his first trade mission Tuesday, returning to Los Angeles with promises to bring an international flight to Ontario and to expand a Mexican supermarket chain’s stores in this area.

Although Hahn did not negotiate those deals himself, the mayor’s visit and promise to help the companies cut through red tape helped persuade executives to commit to specific time frames for implementing them, according to officials involved on both sides of the talks.

Under the agreements, Aeromexico will begin a daily flight between Ontario International Airport and the northwest Mexican town of Hermosillo, a move airport officials called notable in view of the dramatic cutbacks recently in the industry. The new flight, which will begin in mid-January, furthers Hahn’s goal of spreading airline traffic around the region.

In addition, the president of Grupo Gigante, which owns an international supermarket chain, told Hahn the company will add five new stores to Los Angeles by the end of next year, a $23-million expansion that will create about 1,000 new jobs.

While an airline flight and a handful of supermarkets won’t single-handedly prop up the region’s weakening economy, Tuesday’s agreements represent the kind of tangible economic investment Hahn said he came to Mexico seeking.

“This is what this trip is all about,” the mayor said in an interview Tuesday afternoon before heading to the airport to fly home. “The thrust is what we can do to bring jobs and investment and trade to Los Angeles.”

The two-day trip to Mexico City marked Hahn’s first international venture, one that appeared to energize the mayor. Hahn, who can sometimes appear disengaged during public appearances, peppered his hosts with questions as he toured the capital city. When his motorcade arrived back at his hotel late Monday night after 13 hours of nonstop meetings, Hahn strode through the lobby beaming.

After an hourlong meeting at Aeromexico headquarters with the mayor and other city officials on Tuesday, airline President Alfonso Pasquel announced the creation of a new daily flight between Ontario and Hermosillo. The 1 1/2-hour flight from San Bernardino County to northwest Mexico will allow passengers to reach a regional hub where they can make connections to other destinations without having to travel all the way south to Mexico City, officials said.

Daily Flight Represents a Significant Investment

Aeromexico already operates 12 flights a day into Los Angeles International Airport, and in December the airline began flying three flights a week between Guadalajara and Ontario. The new schedule represents a significant investment on the part of the airline at a time when it has reduced capacity by 12%.

“They’re flying in the face of conventional wisdom, especially in the airline industry,” said Phillip Depoian, deputy executive director at Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs the airports in Los Angeles, Ontario and Palmdale.

Analysts agreed the timing of Aeromexico’s announcement is unusual. But adding a daily flight between two industrial centers like Ontario and Hermosillo “makes eminent sense,” said Michael Boyd, president of the Boyd Group, an aviation consulting firm in Evergreen, Colo. “Hermosillo is underserved from the north,” he said. “They would carry as many people from Ontario as they would from LAX.”

But Boyd and others questioned whether the state-owned airline will be able to attract enough leisure travelers to pay for the additional service.

“Northern Mexico is a growing business area,” Boyd said. “No one is going to go there for fun and games. It’s like flying to Detroit for the weekend--no one does it.”

Even though they’re still reeling from the economic fallout of the terrorist attacks, other airlines are likely to watch the new service closely to see if it’s profitable, said Jack Keady, a Playa del Rey-based aviation consultant.

“Other airlines, notably Alaska and maybe Delta and American, will watch closely to see if service to Mexico at airports other than LAX will succeed,” he said.

Hahn and airport officials also hope Aeromexico’s decision will encourage other airlines to send flights to Ontario, a specific goal of the mayor, who opposes a long-debated expansion of LAX. Right now, Aeromexico is the only airline flying international flights into Ontario. A previous service operated by Air Canada was canceled after 89 days.

The Los Angeles delegation also met with Fernando Flores, president of Mexicana, who said his airline was considering starting flights to Ontario, as well as launching a new flight between Buenos Aires and LAX.

New Supermarkets to Provide Jobs, Services

City officials also lauded the announcement by Grupo Gigante President Angel Losada that his company will open five new stores in Los Angeles by the end of 2002, almost tripling the number in the city. The new supermarkets will be located in south and central Los Angeles, the Eastside and the northern San Fernando Valley, Hahn said, and will provide jobs and services in economically needy areas.

The mayor also met with several dozen tourism and airline officials Tuesday and asked for their help in encouraging travel to Los Angeles. Mexico is the No. 1 source of foreign travelers to the city. Roughly 1.6 million Mexicans visited Los Angeles last year.

Tourism is one of the largest industries in Los Angeles, and officials are anxious to shore up the loss in revenue and jobs that occurred after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The number of visitors from Mexico dropped less than those from other countries since Sept. 11, falling about 7%, compared with double-digit percentage drops in visitors from Asia and Europe.

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Times staff writer Jennifer Oldham contributed to this report.