Three years since receiving its last arriving flight, the Palenque International Airport has officially resumed commercial operations in a fitting fashion — by welcoming an arrival from the newly relaunched Mexicana de Aviación to its tarmac.
Nineteen passengers made the trip from Mexico City’s Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) to Palenque, in the southern state of Chiapas. The arriving aircraft, a Brazilian-built Embraer ERJ-145, was welcomed by airport firefighters, who sprayed the plane with their water cannons. Disembarking passengers were then invited to join a traditional Maya ceremony and ribbon-cutting alongside local dignitaries.
The reopened airport was recently given over to the National Defense Ministry (Sedena) — along with airports in Uruapan and Puebla — and will be administered by the military’s Olmeca-Maya-Mexica Airport, Railroad and Auxiliary Services Group. The group also operates the Mexicana de Aviación airline, as well as the Tulum airport inaugurated last month.
The airport now includes a station of the new Maya Train railroad, linking the city and its surrounding areas with Chiapas and the Yucatán peninsula.
It is hoped the return of scheduled flights and the arrival of the Maya Train will boost tourism to the city, famed for its extensive Maya ruins and miles of untouched jungle.
“We are a destination with great wealth in every sense, that is why we invite every citizen to visit us and enjoy our waterfalls, our rivers, to live the experience Palenque offers tourists,” airport administrator Julio Alberto Mendoza Espinosa announced at the reopening ceremony.
Palenque Airport first opened in 2014 during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto but saw regular flights suspended in 2020, after troubled carrier Interjet collapsed into bankruptcy.
Flights from AIFA to Palenque will operate four afternoons per week, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.The airport now also hopes to return to international service with flights to Guatemala, although no official date for the proposed TAG Airlines service has been announced.
With reports from La Jornada Maya and El Heraldo de Chiapas
How wondrous that I lived to see this……Saludos desde Mexico City!
The revival of Palenque Airport will be very good for tourism in the area. It has been too difficult to get to Palenque. Great idea to put the airport and the train station together.
Agreed. I had wondered where I may be able to board the Maya Train. Great idea to connect
It’s nice to hear you can visit by air, but must be a reason why airlines haven’t gone there in 3 years. Maybe not enough organic demand. We’ll see if someone wants to compete with the government airline and fly there as well.
Agree that the logistics now of the train and the airport will make Palanque far more accessible. Let’s hope they protect the area around the magical ruins there from construction due to the growth that will come to the area. When I first went to Palanque 29 years ago it was the closest thing to an Indiana Jones movie you could imagine – just awesome!
Has Mexicana announced when the service will begin?
As I reflect on my first visit to the magical ruins nearly forty years ago, My partner and I took the bus from Puerto Vallarta . Why? Because Hiway 200 had opened up for the first time, and you could ride the bus all the way to Acapulco. On the way, stopped in Zipolite. There was one flushing toilet . you had to use a bucket of water. Met a couple from Kansas city. Told us about Agua Azul, and Palenque. Just had to go there! Took some incredible pictures. It is a must do thing. That was 1987. I sincerely hope the airport doesn’t ruin the magic of the discovery!
Interesting how TAR is operating the route. Didn’t know Mexicana had a code share with TAR or that TAR had resumed operations.