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On Monday 9 August, Central American airline, Mexicana, announced that all flights from Gatwick to Mexico would be suspended, as the carrier battled to reduce its debts. Less than a day later, the majority of routes between London and Mexico City were reinstated, alongside flights to the Mexican capital from Madrid, Spain.

The carrier has warned that 18 routes will be “reduced to a minimum,” but employees remain “determined to make an effort out of concern for passengers.”

Mexicana’s troubles are different from those affecting UK airlines, such as the Air Passenger Duty and the Volcanic Ash Crisis, the name of which surely deserves capitalisation by now: Mexicana was hit by the swine flu outbreak that swept through Latin America in 2009, accruing debts of £628m as travellers avoided the region.

The carrier had put away £500m for a rainy day, but employees’ high wages meant that Mexicana’s savings were quickly absorbed by operating costs. The airline claims that its pilots earn 50% more than US pilots, and flight crews take home salaries that are 32% higher than the US average.

Ordinarily, the revival of popular routes indicates that an airline has found a way to deal with its demons, but Mexicana’s renewed commitment to Gatwick and Madrid appears to be an attempt to die gracefully. The airline’s website intimated that workers' unions had refused to agree to its cost-cutting plans, which, presumably, would have involved mass redundancies.

The unions’ decision begs the question, why, when the collapse of Mexicana is almost assured, are the unions refusing to acquiesce to the carrier’s consolidation plans? The reason may never be made plain, but job losses may be the lesser of two evils for the airline, which recently categorised its business as “no longer sustainable.”

Gatwick’s route to Mexico opened in October 2008, and was Mexicana’s first European, and first Trans-Atlantic, flight. The airline has not commented on how long its Gatwick-Mexico City connection will last, but concerned passengers are urged to contact the carrier on 0808 101 7600.