The Mexican airport market reached a new milestone this Friday, December 1, with the official inauguration of the new «Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport», which will serve Tulum, in the state of Quintana Roo, creating a new gateway for one of the main tourist hubs of the Caribbean.
The first regular flight to land in Tulum was the 9360 from Viva Aerobus from the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, operated by the Airbus A320 with registration XA-VIJ, which touched down at 12:49 PM local time. The moment was captured in this video:
The inauguration ceremony was attended by the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Governor of the state of Quintana Roo, Mara Lezama Espinosa, and other important national and local authorities.
«Starting today, Quintana Roo will have its fourth international airport for commercial flights in operation, and we will be the state with the most airport infrastructure, and we will also further strengthen the highest air connectivity recorded in the country,» said the Governor, detailing that the state, which includes tourist centers such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and Cozumel, has flights to 128 cities around the world.
Located in the heart of the Mayan jungle, the Tulum airport, funded by the federal government with an investment of 3,200 million pesos, emerges as the new gateway to Quintana Roo to partly relieve the Cancún airport.
The project is developed on 1,500 hectares and will be able to handle 32,000 annual flights, as well as 5.5 million passengers. It has a 70,000 square meter terminal, a 3,700-meter runway, and three platforms for commercial flights (with 13 positions), general and executive aviation, and for the military base.
Tulum: six airlines and fifteen destinations
Following the official announcement of the opening of the Tulum International Airport, various airlines announced their plans to operate from there. Aeroméxico and Viva Aerobus were the first, connecting Tulum with five national airports starting in December.
Four American airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Spirit Airlines and American Airlines, will begin operations between March 28 and 31. Together, they will connect Tulum with ten cities in the United States.
- Aeromexico
- Mexico City (AICM); 14 weekly flights with Embraer 190.
- Viva Aerobus
- Mexico City (AICM); 7 weekly flights with Airbus A320ceo/neo.
- Mexico City (AIFA); 7 weekly flights with Airbus A321ceo/neo.
- Monterrey (MTY); 7 weekly flights with Airbus A320ceo and A321ceo/neo.
- Guadalajara (GDL); 3 weekly flights with Airbus A320ceo.
- Tijuana (TIJ); 1 weekly flight with Airbus A321neo.
- American Airlines
- Charlotte/Douglas (CLT); 7 weekly flights with Boeing 737-800.
- Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW); 14 weekly flights with Boeing 737-800.
- Miami (MIA); 7 weekly flights with Boeing 737-800.
- Delta Air Lines
- Atlanta (ATL); 7 weekly flights with Boeing 737-800.
- Spirit Airlines
- Fort Lauderdale (FLL); 7 weekly flights with Airbus A320neo.
- Orlando (MCO); 7 weekly flights with Airbus A320neo.
- United Airlines
- Chicago/O’Hare (ORD); 7 weekly flights with Boeing 737-900 (ER).
- Houston (IAH); 14 weekly flights with Boeing 737-900 (ER).
- Los Angeles (LAX); 7 weekly flights with Boeing 737-900 (ER).
- Newark (EWR); 7 weekly flights with Boeing 737-900 (ER).
According to the Cirium platform, the airport will have an offer of 42,834 weekly seats, which is equivalent to an annual capacity of over 1,600,000 seats.
- Aeromexico: 2,772 weekly seats.
- American Airlines: 9,632 weekly seats.
- Delta Air Lines: 2,240 weekly seats.
- Spirit Airlines: 5,096 weekly seats.
- United Airlines: 12,250 weekly seats.
- Viva Aerobus: 10,844 weekly seats.
