The airline's CEO said moving more flights to AIFA was good business.The budget airline Volaris will soon add 10 additional flights from the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), located north of Mexico City in México state.
Starting in July, the low-cost carrier will fly from AIFA to Acapulco, Guadalajara, Huatulco, La Paz, Mérida, Mexicali, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Escondido and Los Cabos. It already operates services from AIFA to Tijuana and Cancún.
The airline announced the new routes Tuesday at the annal Tianguis Turístico tourism industry event in Acapulco.
The announcement came two weeks after Deputy Transport Minister Rogelio Jiménez Pons said that 25% of flights at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) will be transferred to AIFA and the Toluca International Airport over the next 12 months as part of efforts to relieve pressure on the capital’s main hub, where two dangerous incidents recently occurred.
AIFA, located about 50 kilometers north of downtown Mexico City, opened in late March but currently has few commercial flights. The Toluca airport, located about 60 kilometers west of the capital, has no commercial services.
However, Volaris announced that it will resume services in August from that airport to Tijuana, Puerto Vallarta, Cancún, Guadalajara, Los Cabos and Huatulco.
CEO Enrique Beltranena said the decision to add services at AIFA was a response to the government’s request for airlines to make greater use of the new airport but also good business.
There are 30 million potential passengers in the greater Mexico City area and that market will benefit from the airline’s “redistribution” of its services, he said. Millions of people live in closer proximity to AIFA or the Toluca airport than to the AICM.
Beltranena said Volaris will be able to offer 1 million extra seats annually on flights out of the Mexico City metropolitan area as a result of its use of three different airports.
“I want to reiterate our commitment to the strengthening of the [aviation] industry to take air travel to more Mexicans,” he said at a Tianguis Turístico event attended by federal Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco.
“More than 1.2 million customers travel with us for the first time every year and 84 of our 190 national routes are exclusive because our cost model competes with buses and transforms the economy and air transport,” Beltranena said.
With reports from Reforma and El Economista
