Asur says Mexicana airline woes have minimal impact

MEXICO CITY Aug 12 (Reuters) - Airport operator Asur has seen only a minimal impact on its operations since news broke last month of airline Mexicana de Aviacion's financial woes, Asur's chief executive said on Thursday.

"In our case, it should be under 50,000 (passengers whose travel has been affected). It isn't dramatic," Fernando Chico Pardo told reporters at an event in Mexico City.

Asur(ASURB.MX) (ASR.N), which along with rivals OMA (OMAB.MX) and GAP (GAPB.MX) (PAC.N) is one of the three main airport operators in Mexico, transported 1.65 million passengers in July.

The company gets a portion of its income from business with Mexicana and AeroMexico, the country's two leading airlines.

Debt-ridden Mexicana, which has already begun to curtail routes after filing for creditor protection in the United States and Mexico, is in desperate need of an injection of fresh cash to keep flying.

Pilots with the company, which makes most of its revenue from international routes, have been working without pay since last weekend.

Mexicana has already requested creditor protection under Mexico's insolvency law, or concurso mercantil, but it has yet to be declared bankrupt by a local judge. The airline also submitted a Chapter 15 filing in a New York court to protect its U.S. assets from creditors.

The airline's main shareholders and employees are separately looking for investors that can inject money into the ailing airline, but no bailout appears certain so far.

Mexico's air industry was hit hard in 2009 by a severe economic downturn in Mexico and an outbreak of the H1N1 flu that deterred travelers for months.

Asur shares slipped 1.61 percent to 57.45 pesos in noon trading on Thursday. (Reporting by Veronica Gomez Sparrowe; editing by Missy Ryan and Gunna Dickson)