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Mexico’s flagship airline Grupo Aeroméxico successfully completed its return to public markets on November 6, 2025, raising approximately $300 million through a dual-listing initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange and the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores.

The airline’s American Depositary Shares (ADS) were priced at $19 each—the midpoint of the expected $18-$20 range—with 11.72 million ADSs offered in the U.S. market. Each ADS represents 10 common shares. The offering also included 27.5 million common shares on the BMV priced at 35.34 pesos ($1.90 per share).

Shares began trading under the ticker symbol AERO on both exchanges, opening at $19.16 on the NYSE and closing the first day at $20.35—a 7.1% gain from the IPO price. The strong debut performance valued the airline at approximately $2.8 billion.

The IPO was led by Barclays, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan, with additional support from Evercore ISI and Apollo Global Securities. The offering was reportedly oversubscribed, indicating strong investor demand.

Post-Bankruptcy Comeback

The public offering marks a significant milestone for Aeroméxico, which delisted from public markets three years ago following Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring during the COVID-19 pandemic. The airline, founded in 1934, continued operations throughout its bankruptcy proceedings and emerged in 2022 with backing from Apollo Global Management.

In addition to the public offering, U.S.-based Par Investment Partners purchased $25 million in shares through a concurrent private placement at a 5% discount to the IPO price.

Delta Air Lines, which holds a 20% stake in Aeroméxico and maintains a revenue-sharing agreement for U.S.-Mexico routes, did not participate in the offering and entered into a four-year lock-up agreement.

Strong Financial Performance

The airline’s return to public markets comes on the back of solid financial performance. For the 12 months ending June 30, 2025, Aeroméxico reported net income of $360.8 million on revenue of $5.4 billion. In the first nine months of 2024, the carrier generated revenue of $4.19 billion with net income of $542 million.

Aeroméxico currently holds a 36.3% market share of passengers flying within, to, and from Mexico, according to AFAC data. The airline operates a fleet of approximately 125 aircraft—primarily Boeing 737 MAX 8/9 and 787-9 Dreamliners—which is among the youngest and most fuel-efficient in Latin America.

As a founding member of the SkyTeam Alliance, Aeroméxico partners with 18 global airlines including Air France-KLM and Korean Air, serving over 50 international cities across 24 countries from its hubs in Mexico City, Felipe Ángeles International Airport, and Guadalajara.

Aeroméxico plans to use the IPO proceeds to fund fleet expansion, customer experience infrastructure improvements, and maintenance operations. The capital will support the airline’s continued growth strategy and network expansion plans.

Broader Market Implications

Industry analysts view the successful IPO as a positive signal for Mexico’s equity capital markets, which have seen more delistings than new offerings in recent years. The transaction was delayed in 2024 due to market uncertainty following Mexico’s elections and proposed constitutional reforms.

Bradesco analyst Rodolfo Ramos told Bloomberg that market conditions for IPOs are “starting to be much more favorable” compared to recent years. Legal experts predict a handful of additional Mexican IPOs could materialize over the next 18 months, particularly in retail, infrastructure, and real estate sectors as nearshoring opportunities continue to drive investment interest.

The Aeroméxico offering follows Fibra Next’s completion of Mexico’s largest IPO in seven years this past July, suggesting renewed momentum for Mexican companies accessing public capital markets.

A soldier trains Belgian Malinois puppies at the Mexican Army and Air Force Canine Production Center in San Miguel de los Jagueyes, Mexico. Basic training ends when they are four months old, when they move to military units where they will become specialists in drug or explosives detection, searching, rescue, or protection and security. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A kindergarten for dogs is in session at a military base outside Mexico City. The future rescue dogs, or sniffer dogs for drugs or explosives, get their four months of basic training here at Mexico’s Army and Air Force Canine Production Center.

Founded in 1998, the center has, in the past, produced breeds such as German Shepherds and Rottweilers. Now, it exclusively breeds Belgian Malinois — about 300 of them a year, The Associated Press reports.

“It’s a very intelligent dog, it’s a dog with a lot of hardiness, very resistant to diseases,” said Col. Alejandro Camacho Ibarra, a veterinarian and the center’s director. It is the Mexican military’s only such production facility, and Camacho said it may be the largest in Latin America.

The mainly green-and-white, one-story buildings look like any others at the military camp in the State of Mexico, near Mexico City. But the difference here is in the sounds that fill the air: high-pitched barking from dozens of puppies scattered through its maternities and training camps.

Precautions here are strict because of a recent canine parvovirus outbreak that sickened some of the puppies. Visitors are disinfected with a spray, and must step into a watery solution to clean their shoe soles. Only military personnel can touch the puppies. If you want to get close, you need to wear scrubs, shoe protectors and a mask, but you still cannot hold or pet the animals.

The training starts early in life, about a month after birth, once the weaning process finishes. And everything is taught as a game.

“We start playing with the dog,” Camacho said. The idea is to draw them to items that trainers call “attractors” — like a ball or a rag — and puppies are challenged to catch them. “Every time it holds his prey, it’s rewarded, congratulated, and it learns to go after that prey, after that attractor,” Camacho added.

Unlike in civilian life, where puppies often get food treats, in the military, the only prize for a job well done is a caress and some praise.

In one section of the camp, there’s a trail with obstacles including rocks, a tunnel, a section of empty plastic bottles to clamber over, a ladder, and tires.

A soldier beckons the little dogs with a rag they must capture. The brown puppies with black snouts begin running through the trail, jumping over the rocks and crossing the obstacles. One takes the lead and the second struggles to cross over the plastic bottles, but also finishes. Both go to bite the rag the soldier holds.

“Very, very good, sons! Very good, boys,” he repeats while dragging the puppies as they maintain their grasp on the rag for several moments.

Camacho explains that the puppies are known by a number until they are three months old, when they are given a proper name. Each year, the center gives names according to a single letter of the alphabet. In 2023, that letter is “F.”

Febo, Frodo, Fósil, Forraje and Fido are some of this year’s names.

The basic training ends when the puppies are 4 months old. Then, they move to other military units to become specialists in the detection of drugs or explosives, in search and rescue, or in protection and security.

The current government of Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has relied heavily on the armed forces for various initiatives, from public safety to the building of airports and a tourist train line. And K-9 units have been a key element of some of the military’s activities, like the detection of drugs.

Col. Camacho said that some dogs born at the center have been trained to detect fentanyl, a synthetic opioid trafficked by Mexican cartels that has been blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths per year in the United States.

That kind of specialized training happens elsewhere, but the colonel says it builds on his center’s basic training by using “attractor” objects but having them impregnated with the scent of what the dogs need to track, such as a drug.

Dogs retire from their military service after eight years, Camacho says.

Many of the dogs have become unsung heroes of missions in Mexico and abroad. Occasionally, they become publicly known, like a German Shepherd named Proteo who was part of a rescue team sent in February to Turkey after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 40,000 people.

Proteo died during the search for survivors of the quake. A statue of him now stands at the center.

Another dog that made headlines in Mexico and abroad was a yellow Labrador retriever rescue dog named Frida. The Navy dog gained fame in the days following Mexico’s Sept. 19, 2017, earthquake that left more than 300 dead in the capital. She retired in 2019 and died in 2022.

Col. Camacho said that the dogs have a symbiotic relationship with their handlers during their working life in the military.

“The dog uses us to survive, but we also use the dog to do a job,” he said. “So it’s a coordinated work where we both get a benefit.”

— Associated Press

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