Friday, August 29, 2025

Tulum International Airport expands connectivity with flights to Colombia and Germany

After surpassing passenger projections for its first year of service, Tulum International Airport continues to expand connectivity, welcoming two new flights this week.

On Tuesday, Colombia’s Avianca Airlines made its maiden flight to Tulum, arriving from Bogotá at 4 p.m. local time with 160 passengers on board, according to the newspaper La Jornada Maya.

Mario Cruz Rodríguez, the president of Tulum’s Tourism Promotion Council, was one of the passengers, returning home after spending a week in Colombia on Council business.

Arriving with him was an assemblage of Colombian reporters and tourism industry operators who were flown in on a “fam trip” to familiarize themselves with the amenities and attractions of the popular resort area on the Caribbean coast of Quintana Roo.

The Avianca plane was the first flight to arrive in Tulum from outside North America.

On Thursday, the airport welcoming committee sprung into action again, treating the first trans-Atlantic arrival to a water arch salute. That flight, operated by Discover Airlines, came in from Frankfurt, Germany, with 199 passengers on board.

With the arrival of Discover Airlines from Frankfurt, we open new doors to the world with two weekly flights, consolidating our status as a leading global destination.
Operated by Discover Airlines, the first direct flight from Germany arrived from Frankfurt, with 199 passengers on board. (Mara Lezama via X)

Discover — a leisure airline owned by Lufthansa — runs the Frankfurt-Tulum route on a seasonal basis. It will land at Tulum International every Thursday and Sunday until April 27, 2025.

Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama and German Ambassador Clemens von Goetze led the welcome ceremony, according to the newspaper Riviera Maya News. 

Lezama celebrated the occasion by saying the new flights “[contribute] to the confidence generated by our tourist destinations and … by national and international business groups and investors,” adding that it indicates a promising future for the Mexican Caribbean.

Von Goetze also spoke at the ceremony. “The inauguration of this flight represents more than an air connection,” the ambassador said. “It is a bridge between Mexico and Germany.” 

Thursday’s arrival also marked the first landing of a wide-body aircraft at the new airport which opened its doors on Dec. 1, 2023, Riviera Maya News reported. 

In its first year of operations, the Tulum airport surpassed its target of transporting 700,000 passengers. On Dec. 1, 2024, airport officials announced that Tulum International Airport had received 1,074,000 passengers and had carried out 8,500 air operations.

More new routes will be inaugurated before the end of the year. Canada’s Air Transat will begin flights from Montreal and Quebec on Dec. 16 and Dec. 18, respectively.

With reports from La Jornada Maya and Riviera Maya News

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
The Ciudad Juárez airport at night

Ciudad Juárez International Airport inaugurates a new terminal, doubling its capacity

0
The new US $44 million terminal is part of an ongoing expansion that will see another US $58.9 million spent on imrovements by 2030.
A white 15-passenger van in Tulum with people exiting it.

Tulum transportation workers report steep decline in tourists

4
Daily ridership between Tulum and Playa del Carmen has fallen by more than 50%, according to estimates by local transport operators.
Preisdent with boat crew

Acapulco debuts maritime public transport system

1
The 90-passenger, 25 m by 7 m boat offers residents and tourists a traffic-free ride to several points along Acapulco Bay, costing from 30 to 160 pesos.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity