The low-cost airline JetBlue officially launched its new direct flight between John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City and Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport (TQO) in Tulum on Thursday.
The route, which will operate daily, is the U.S. airline’s third destination in Mexico, in addition to Cancún and Los Cabos. It is currently the only direct route connecting New York with the popular Mexican beach destination. Ticket prices start at US $116.
“As the only airline with direct service from New York’s JFK to Tulum, we are thrilled to offer our customers our award-winning service, low fares, and another option when traveling to the Mexican Caribbean,” said JetBlue Vice President David Jehn.
Passengers on the inaugural flight were offered breakfast burritos and fruit towers, according to a report in Travel and Leisure magazine. JetBlue also handed out free round-trip tickets and travel vouchers as part of a round of in-flight bingo organized by the crew.
The new daily flight takes off at 8 a.m. and arrives in Tulum at 11:15 a.m.
Before the Tulum airport opened in December 2023, travelers had to fly into Cancún, located about 130 kilometers to the north.
“We’re already seeing a different dynamic that we never had [because] people planned their vacation [around] landing in Cancún,” Andrés Martínez Reynoso, the director of the Quintana Roo Tourism Board, told Travel and Leisure, adding that the airport is “changing the way we look at our own destination … Now with Tulum, it brings especially the destinations that we have in the south … closer to the north of the state. In a way, people are going to have more options when they vacation there.”
International flights to Tulum began in March, with major carriers American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines currently operating flights from U.S. cities including Atlanta, Dallas and Miami.
Canadian airline WestJet will operate limited seasonal flights starting in November, and Air Canada began operating flights from Toronto to Tulum in May.
Copa Airlines is scheduled to inaugurate its first flight between Panama City and Tulum on June 26, and there will be connections to Europe launching this winter.
Viva Aerobús, Mexicana de Aviación and Aeroméxico offer domestic connections to Tulum airport.
With reports from Aviación al Día and Travel and Leisure
