The external analysis is performed in order to identify our opportunities and threats. The tools used for that are:

• The PEST Analysis to analyze the industry
• The Porter's 5 forces Analysis to analyze the competitors
• Value curve canvas

About our industry

To start with it we must analyze the industry in which we compete. We compete in the international airport industry and we want to become an international hub connecting México with the world.

This is a big industry in México with important international airports settled in Ciudad de México, Cancún, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana. Being Cancún International Airport one of the closest competitors. But this industry has still a good growth rate of approximately the 10%. With 137.6 million passengers in 2017.

Our airport is settled in Mérida, the capital of Yucatán State. This state has a population of more than 2,000,000 inhabitants and is placed in an unbeatable location to connect the European flights with the rest of America.

The area of Yucatán, has a poor road and train connections, and the distances between the main cities of México are huge, it makes the Aeronautical Industry a good solution to travel between Mexican cities and to international destinations.

PEST Analysis

The PEST analysis studies the Political, Economical, Social and Technological environmental factors that differentiates the industry.

Political and Legal factors

For all the aeronautical comercial companies the main barrier of entry in this industry is the difficulty in obtaining the homologations to work in the international aviation industry. But since we want to become an international airport we have to meet the requirements of ICAO.

Also we need the get all the authorizations from the air safety agency of México, that regulates the Mexican air space.

Economical factors

As have been mentioned above, the flow of passengers in the Mexican airports is increasing in a rate of 10% per year, being during the last year 137.6 million of passengers.

Yucatán State has a GNP of more than 9 billion dollars. Its main industrial sector is the tertiary but with a considerable importance of the secondary sector.

Social Factors

In some parts of México, the society is poor and it has been a great barrier for the mexicans to travel outside of they country. This is why the huge amount of air traffic is situated in the touristic zones because the aeronautical industry has been carrying tourists from other countries to México.

Actually, with the improve of the economy of some mexican states, as Yucatán, the internal flights to carry mexican between cities and business flights are increasing.

Technological Factors

As has been explained before. The Mexican roads and connections by train between cities are in very bad state as well as the distances are huge (between Mérida and Ciudad de México there are more than 1,000 km). This is the main factor that makes the aeronautical industry to become the best choice to travel between the mexican cities.

Porter's 5 forces Analysis

To analyse the main competitors of the market we use the Porter's 5 forces Analysis (figure 1).

The main competitors are:

• Cancún International Airport
• Ciudad de México International Airport
• Miami International Airport

Bargaining power of buyers

Our buyers are the airlines, since México has a lots of airports and they are managed by 5 different companies, the airlines has a very high bargaining power.

Bargaining power of suppliers

In terms of fuel, the mexican price is low and the suppliers has no bargaining power due to the different companies situated in the country.

In terms of airport services the suppliers of these services has a bargaining power due to the ICAO limitation that requires that these suppliers has to be homologated by them.

Threat of substitutes

Nowadays it is not a threat in the zone due to the bad connections between cities and the long distances between them.

Threat of new entrants

It is difficult that a new airport enters the same market due to the large number of airports that currently exist and the huge cost of create a new airport and meet all the requirements of the ICAO. So, it is not a big concern.

Industry rivalry

It is the most important force. There are many competitors airports that have more popularity and reputation, and it is the main drawback for our airport.

Value Curve CANVAS

With all previous data, a comparison between our 3 main competitors and our company according to nine differentiate factors of our industry present in the current market is performed. The best tool to show this comparison is the value curve CANVAS as it follows:

In this graphic, it can be seen how our company stands out in those factors which the management team has wanted to foster and raise. Those are the national to international character, the state-of-the-art technologies for the facilities and the customer experience. This is the consequence, to a large extend, of our efficient and effective airport management which reinforce even more the feasibility of this realistic project. However, there are still points that should be defined such as a the connection flights or the transport connections. Then, the opportunities and threats of the industry can be defined at last.

Opportunities & Threats of our industry

The main opportunities are:

• Government support
• Continuous growth in the number of Mexican passengers
• Improvement of the local economy of the Yucatán State
• Increase of the number of international flights and internal flights between the main cities
• Available high investment

The main threats are:

• High bargaining power of the airlines due to the huge number of available airports
• High bargaining power of the handling companies due to the small number of companies with the ICAO homologations
• The big rivalry of international airports in México
• High fixed costs
• High initial investment