Abstract
This paper explores the development of Mexican commercial aviation (and more specifically the trajectory of Compañía Mexicana de Aviación) against the background of Mexico’s Second World War alliance with the USA and its post-war economic expansion. USA foreign aid allowed Mexican president Manuel Ávila Camacho (1940–46) to further develop the country’s aviation network and personnel. The Second World War’s disruption of tourism allowed Mexico to reap the benefits of a rapidly growing vacation industry. The election of Miguel Aléman in 1946 reinforced commercial aviation and tourism as crucial, co-dependent elements in modernising the country and making Compañía Mexicana de Aviación a symbol of national progress. Although the Second World War emerges as a crucial point in the development of Mexican aviation, the same processes that buoyed commercial airlines also reinforced cultural stereotypes that were exploited for USA tourists and masked reckless financial decisions that nearly bankrupted Compañía Mexicana de Aviación’s in late 1950s.
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