US Clears Volaris-Viva Aerobus Combination as Mexico Review Looms

The FTC acted under its sua sponte authority in clearing the transaction, Mexico Business News reported. The deal still requires approval from Mexico’s antitrust authorities before it can be completed, leaving the companies awaiting a decision in their most important market.

The US clearance moves Volaris and Viva closer to creating one of the most powerful airline groups in Mexico, where the two carriers have built substantial positions in the domestic low-cost market. The proposed combination has also received regulatory approval in Colombia, according to reporting cited by Mexico Business News. Mexico is the principal outstanding regulatory review.

Under the proposed structure, the airlines would sit beneath a holding company called Grupo Más Vuelos while continuing to operate under their existing brands and separate operating certificates. The companies have said the arrangement is intended to generate economies of scale, lower fleet ownership costs, improve access to capital and strengthen their ability to expand low-fare service.

The transaction was announced in December 2025 as a combination in which the shareholder groups of Viva and Volaris would each ultimately own 50% of the new company. Volaris shareholders subsequently approved the transaction, with 91.8% of the carrier’s outstanding capital voting in favor at an extraordinary meeting in March, according to company information reported by La Jornada.

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The scale of the proposed group is likely to make the Mexican antitrust review the transaction’s most consequential test. Grupo Más Vuelos would account for more than three-quarters of Mexico’s domestic air market and about 27% of the Mexico-US market if the transaction is approved, according to reporting on the regulatory process.

That concentration has raised questions about competition in an industry already dominated by a small number of large carriers. Volaris and Viva have argued that combining their scale would allow them to preserve their ultra-low-cost business models while investing in additional connectivity and expanding their networks.

Read more: Mexican Unions Split Over Antitrust Risks in Volaris-Viva Merger

The airlines have said their individual brands will remain in the market, meaning passengers would continue to see Volaris and Viva as separate commercial identities even though they would share a common parent company. When the transaction was announced, the carriers said the structure would allow them to maintain independent operations while benefiting from greater purchasing power and financial flexibility.

The combined businesses would have considerable operating scale. Volaris had 155 aircraft and generated about $3 billion in revenue in 2025, while Viva operated 108 aircraft and reported roughly $2.4 billion in revenue, according to previously published figures.

The companies are also looking beyond Mexico for growth, particularly in the US, which has become an increasingly important market for both carriers. Their networks are heavily oriented toward point-to-point, price-sensitive travelers, a segment that has transformed Mexico’s aviation market over the past two decades.

Mexican regulators could still impose conditions on the transaction to address competition concerns, particularly where the airlines’ networks overlap or airport capacity is constrained. The exact remedies, if any, remain uncertain.

Source: Mexico Business News