Mexican budget airline Volaris will offer direct flights between Tijuana, Baja California and Las Vegas, Nevada, starting Oct. 29. The flights will be operated three days a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, according to Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda. 

“At Volaris, we are constantly looking to increase travel options and provide unparalleled flight experiences to meet high potential markets like Las Vegas,” said Holger Blankenstein, executive vice president of Volaris.

The state of Nevada is the third largest market for U.S. visitors to Baja California, after California and Arizona, according to Miguel Aguiñiga Rodríguez, the Baja California tourism minister.

“This new route will be a direct bridge between these two important economic destinations, which will also allow us to continue strengthening cultural ties between both nations,” he said.

The Tijuana-Las Vegas route is part of Volaris’ expansion strategy in Mexico, the U.S. and Latin America. Other new routes Volaris has announced this year include El Salvador to Miami; San José, Costa Rica to Guadalajara; and Cancún to McAllen, Texas. Volaris is Mexico’s biggest airline, flying 24.3 million passengers in 2023.

In February, American Airlines launched a non-stop route between Phoenix, Arizona and Tijuana, marking the city’s first direct flight to the U.S. in seven years, after the closure of the Volaris Tijuana-Oakland route. 

The addition of new direct flights between Tijuana and cities in the U.S. arrives at a time when Tijuana is seeing a drop in tourism. According to the head of the city’s Tourism and Conventions Committee, since the start of the year, medical tourism is down by 50% while restaurants are seeing 45% fewer U.S. visitors, resulting in a 30% drop in profits. 

In an interview with CBS, Karim Chalita Rodríguez blamed low tourism numbers on security concerns among U.S. citizens, a weak dollar versus the Mexican peso and bad weather. 

With reports from T21, A21 and El Universal