Aeroméxico returns to Italy and Japan  

Mexico’s flag carrier has announced it will recommence direct Mexico City-Rome and Mexico City-Tokyo flights next March.

Aeroméxico said Monday that it will fly three times per week to Rome starting March 25 and daily to Tokyo commencing the same date. The airline hasn’t flown to the “Eternal City” for 15 years, while it suspended flights to the Japanese capital almost three years ago.

The frequency between Mexico City and Rome will increase to five times per week on June 1, 2023, Aeroméxico said.

The airline also said it will add flights to Madrid from Monterrey and Guadalajara. Flights between both Mexican cities and the Spanish capital will increase from three to five per week on March 27. Daily flights between the destinations will commence June 1.

Volaris flights fail to take off 

Budget airline Volaris canceled at least 30 flights to and from the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) on Monday, the news website Latinus reported.

Citing information on the AICM website, Latinus said the airline had canceled 17 outgoing and 13 incoming flights by midday. Among the cancelations were scheduled flights to Cancún, Monterrey, Guadalajara and Tijuana and from Cancún, Puerto Escondido and Acapulco.

Volaris canceled at least 132 flights to and from AICM last week due to what it described as “operational adjustments” precipitated by a reduction in landing and takeoff slots at the airport.

The Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) recently reduced available slots to 52 per hour at the AICM. The agency declared in March that both terminals had reached saturation point.

AIFA passenger traffic surges 

The number of passengers who used the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) increased 82% in September compared to the previous month, AFAC data shows. A total of 91,085 passengers used the new airport in September, up from 49,919 in August.

The addition of four new flights in September helped lift passenger numbers at AIFA, located about 50 kilometers north of central Mexico City.

The facility – which was built by the army and opened in March – still has a long way to go to rival the AICM for passenger numbers. More than 3.8 million passengers used the capital’s main airport in September, meaning that the AICM had about 42 passengers for every one person who boarded or disembarked a plane at AIFA.

Mexican destination makes Nat Geo’s “Best of the World” list 

A trip to the Revillagigedo National Park is one of National Geographic’s “5 adrenaline-pumping adventures in 2023.”

Located more than 400 kilometers south of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, the national park is North America’s largest fully protected underwater park, the magazine said.

“It offers sanctuary to the continent’s greatest concentration of tropical marine megafauna, from hammerhead sharks to humpback whales, earning it the nickname “the Galápagos of Mexico,” Nat Geo said.

It added that the waters surrounding the four main islands of the Revillagigedo archipelago “are fast becoming a mecca for scuba divers.”

Featuring articles with information about a range of other destinations, Nat Geo’s “Best of the World” hub can be found here.

More new flights 

United States low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines last month added new flights to Monterrey from Austin and Houston. Daily flights to the Nuevo León capital from both Texas cities began October 6.

Monterrey is Spirit’s first inland destination in Mexico. The airline also flies from U.S. cities to Los Cabos, Cancún and Puerto Vallarta.

With reports from El Financiero, Latinus, El País, Proceso, Caribbean Journal and Aviación Line