MEXICO: Volaris From Merida Operating Flights To Chihuahua, Tijuana, Oaxaca and Hermosillo

Yucatan has expanded its air connectivity by launching four new flights to Chihuahua, Oaxaca, Hermosillo and Tijuana.

These routes started operation in the month of March, and Merida is beoming a cultural, gastronomic and entertainment, tourist destination, and also growing significantly as a Conventions’ Destination.

Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal, wants to increase the air connectivity and the frequency of the arrival of national and international airlines, as part of the plan to turn tourism into the engine for the generation of investment in the city.

This as well as an opportunity to expand commercial relations with other cities and states, and increase the influx of visitors.

It is worth mentioning that the Merida-Tijuana flight allows passengers to cross the border between Mexico and the United States without leaving the airport, you just get off the plane, walk the distance of a football field and enter the United States of America.

It should be noted that the CBX is the closed pedestrian bridge dedicated exclusively to those who use that air terminal and cross the largest binational region in the world, with an average market of more than seven million inhabitants.

The first flight of Volaris from Tijuana, the A320, landed on Sunday March 3 at 06:10, with 174 people on board.

Likewise, the connection with Oaxaca also translates into a relevant opportunity in the commercial relationship with that destination, which has as its priority sectors the textile and renewable energy industries, as well as a prominent development within the sphere of tourism and recreation, to name a few.

And then we have Chihuahua, the threshold to magnificent Copper Canyon Train, where you can go from a 4-hour tour, to a 6-day trip .

It is a spectacular journey, and well worth doing, but you MUST book in advance. A journey through Copper Canyon is one of the most enthralling journeys you can take in Mexico.

Board the famous Chihuahua-Pacific Railway, a major rail line better known as El Chepe, and enjoy the views of the Sierra Madre as you pass over bridges and through tunnels.

Explore Cerocahui on your own and visit the old Jesuit Mission.

In the case of Hermosillo, a sustainable city with vast manufacturing, agricultural and industrial sectors, with significant growth in its tourism development.

With these four routes, Yucatan strengthens ties with northern Mexico manufacturing and commercial sectors, and increases the tourist influx and economic flow in the state.

Since November, the Merida – Leon, Guanajuato flight has been very successful, offering two weekly departures, Tuesdays and Fridays, with a maximum capacity of 180 passengers per flight.


Tourism Observer

PERU: JetSMART Will Fly To Peru Soon

JetSMART plans to add international service next year, as it highlights growth potential for low-cost carriers in Latin America.

The Santiago-based airline, which launched revenue service in late July, now operates to a handful of cities and has announced plans for a network of eight domestic destinations in the coming months.

In 2018, JetSMART wants to add flights to Peru, chief executive Estuardo Ortiz said.

Peru is among the largest markets from Chile, he says, calling the neighbouring country a natural fit for JetSMART's international ambitions.

Backed by Indigo Partners, JetSMART operates two Airbus A320s and expects to receive its third aircraft in September.

It plans to end 2017 with a fleet of at least nine A320s, says Ortiz.

The airline's first two A320s are new aircraft leased from CDB Aviation Lease Finance, Flight Fleets Analyzer shows.

Ortiz says the carrier plans to lease aircraft for now, to allow it to focus on growth.

Ortiz is so far pleased with the airline's initial revenue trends and load factors, although he declines to reveal numbers.

But he says the airline has been pleasantly surprised with the response towards the ultra low-cost carrier model, which is not widespread in South America.

The region is dominated by full-service carriers, although the recent year has seen a new breed of low-cost carriers such as JetSMART.

We've been able to get the word out, and the reception has been surprisingly very positive, says Ortiz. It's a really good start for the LCC model.

He says the airline's online booking process is structured in a way that makes it clear to passengers that they have to pay for amenities like baggage.

Our website takes you by the hand through the booking process, he says. Up to 60% of JetSMART passengers pay some form of baggage fee.

There are currently no plans for Indigo to bring in other investors into JetSMART, says Ortiz, who was Avianca's chief revenue officer before he left the airline in 2016.

JetSMART is also not planning subsidiaries in other parts of Latin America - an expansion strategy that has been taken by the region's more mature discounters Volaris and Viva Air Group.

We want to keep it modest, says Ortiz of the airline's immediate growth plans. I would rather do, than talk.


Tourism Observer

CANADA: WestJet To Cease Flights To Mexico City In October 2018

WestJet will exit Mexico City in October, becoming the latest among several North American airlines to retrench from Mexico's capital city.

This only seven months after WestJet entered the Mexico City market with routes from Calgary and Vancouver.

It's just not performing up to the standards that we would like to see, WestJet chief financial officer Harry Taylor says of Mexico City. We don't want to be cost subsidizing at this point.

Taylor adds that despite retrenching, WestJet still sees long term opportunity to serve Mexico City and could return.

Long term there's something there.

WestJet will operate its last Vancouver-Mexico City flight on 3 October, followed by its final Calgary-Mexico City flight on 27 October.

The carrier launched both routes in March and does not serve Mexico City from any other destination, data shows.

WestJet's move mirrors cuts by other airlines.

Alaska Airlines will stop serving Mexico City on 7 November when it operates it last flight from Los Angeles.

Alaska called that route underperforming and said that the change frees aircraft to launch new routes, such as Seattle to Columbus, Ohio, which the airline plans to start in March 2019.

Alaska also had served Mexico City from San Francisco, but ended that route in May.

Likewise, United Airlines will also cut its Los Angeles-Mexico City flight in October, schedules data shows.

Capacity in available seats from North America to Mexico City jumped 9% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2018, primarily reflecting expansion by low-cost carriers Aeromar, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, VivaAerobus and Volaris, schedules data shows.

WestJet's move comes as the airline seeks to tighten its operation and bolster its finances.

The carrier has seen costs swell in recent quarters, and posted a second quarter operating loss.

The financial challenges hit amid a broad, companywide transformation under which WestJet is moving upscale, acquiring Boeing 787s, installing business class seats on 737s and adding flights at its hubs.


Tourism Observer

USA: Southwest, Delta, American, Korean And Alaska Drop And Open New Routes

Alaska Airlines will drop a Midwest route from San Francisco; Southwest hints at Hawaii and begins new service out of Los Angeles and Denver; American will fly a new transpacific route temporarily and adds a pair of domestic routes.

Korean plans to add a new U.S. gateway; and Frontier begins code-sharing to Mexico and announces another spate of new routes.

Last fall, Alaska Airlines started service between San Francisco and Indianapolis. And this fall, it will drop that route, effective September 30.

There has been lower than expected demand for these flights and we need to utilize this aircraft to add capacity on other routes, said a spokesperson of Alaska Airlines.

This change is another example of how we are looking across the network and making some tough decisions to ensure we are running as efficient of an operation as possible, so we can continue to offer our customers low fares. Alaska will continue to operate its Seattle-Indianapolis service.

The SFO-Indianapolis route is also served by United with it's cleverly numbered Flight 500, and Southwest has nonstop service between Oakland and Indianapolis.

Southwest made a few more hints this week about its new Hawaii service, revealing details such as its plans to serve meals on flights to and from the mainland.

Schedules are expected to be announced in October with flights starts a few weeks later, we predict November timeframe. Flights will have satellite based wi-fi and movies, too. No word on fares yet.

Southwest Airlines this week kicked off its newest transcontinental non-stop, with daily service between Los Angeles International and Tampa. The LAX-Tampa route is also served by Delta and Spirit Airlines. And at Denver, Southwest this week started new daily non-stops to Cincinnati.

For 10 days in January, American Airlines' usual Chicago O'Hare-Tokyo Narita non-stop will operate via an intermediate stop in Las Vegas.

American said that from January 4 to 14, the daily 787-8 LAS-NRT flight will be marketed by its joint venture partner Japan Airlines to carry passengers to and from the giant Consumer Electronics Show. JAL will continue to offer its own daily non-stops between Chicago and Tokyo during that period.

Meanwhile, American will add a couple of new domestic routes in the months ahead. On November 4, it will launch one daily roundtrip between Dallas/Ft. Worth and Cheyenne, Wyoming, operated by Skywest with a CRJ-200.

On December 22, it will begin one flight a week between its Charlotte hub and New Haven, flown by PSA Airlines with a CRJ-200.

Korean Air is coming to Boston next spring, with plans to begin Boston-Seoul Incheon service five days a week beginning April 12. Korean will use a 787-9 on the route, equipped with six first class suites, 18 lie-flat seats in business class and 245 seats in the main cabin.

Korean will operate the route as part of its joint venture partnership with Delta, which recently announced plans to launch its own new service to Seoul from Minneapolis-St. Paul beginning in 2019.

Later this month, Frontier Airlines and Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris will begin a massive program of code-sharing that will put Frontier's code onto 51 routes operated by Volaris and will see the Mexican carrier's code go onto 120 routes operated by Frontier.

The new code-sharing will apply to Volaris flights from San Francisco to Mexico City and Guadalajara, and San Jose to Guadalajara, Morelia and Zacatecas, among many others.

Meanwhile, Frontier has announced another spate of new domestic routes, mostly starting in mid-November. From Phoenix, Frontier will begin new service to Norfolk, Ft. Myers, Grand Rapids and Madison. From Tucson, it will add service to Denver.

At Tampa, Frontier will start flying to Syracuse, Grand Rapids, Portland (Maine), Norfolk, and Greenville, S.C. And at Ft. Myers, it will kick off seasonal service to Albany, Las Vegas, Phoenix., Portland (Maine), Salt Lake City and Syracuse.

Most of the new routes will offer two or three flights a week.


Tourism Observer

More Airlines Expanding Routes

There’s a new entrant in the U.S.-Hong Kong market; Delta will put a new aircraft on a China route and will beef up transpacifc code-sharing; Cathay Pacific will add another U.S. gateway next year.

United is eliminating first class on many routes and cuts back China service; a Lufthansa affiliate is adding a new business class; LATAM is coming to Las Vegas; San Jose gets more service to Mexico; Copa begins Denver service; an Italian airline plans new U.S. routes.

Alaska ends its relationship with two European partners; and Norwegian revamps its U.S. schedules next summer, adding frequencies from the West Coast.

Hong Kong Airlines, a Hong Kong-based sister company of China’s Hainan Airlines, started service to the U.S. for the first time.

The carrier is using a new Airbus A350-900 on the Los Angeles-Hong Kong route, configured with 33 lie-flat business class seats, 109 premium economy seats with 34-inch pitch, and 193 regular economy seats with 31-32 inch pitch.

The new LAX-Hong Kong flights operate four times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday), with a 10:45 a.m. departure from LAX. Hong Kong Airlines plans to add San Francisco service in late March, and New York flights later next year.

So far, all of Delta’s Airbus A350-900s have been scheduled for routes out of Detroit or Atlanta, but now the airline is planning to operate one of the new planes out of Los Angeles.

Delta plans to start flying the new plane from LAX to Shanghai Pudong on July 2, alternating days with a 777-200LR until July 18, when the A350 went onto a daily schedule.

Delta’s A350s – which feature the airline’s new Delta One suites and new international premium economy section – are already used on flights from Detroit to Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon, and are slated to start Detroit-Beijing service January 17.

Detroit-Amsterdam and Atlanta-Seoul March 24; and Detroit-Shanghai April 19.

Meanwhile, Delta will expand code-sharing with its transpacific partner Korean Air on January 10, putting the DL code onto Korean’s flights to Seoul Incheon from Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

In other transpacific news, Cathay Pacific has unveiled plans to add another East Coast gateway in mid-September 2018, when it will start flying from Hong Kong to Washington Dulles.

The carrier already serves Boston, New York JFK and Newark. Cathay reportedly plans to fly the route – which will be the longest in its system – four days a week with a brand-new Airbus A350-1000.

A couple of months ago, we reported on United’s plans to reconfigure its international long-haul 777-200s, putting in new lie-flat Polaris business class seats, taking out first class, and going from nine-across to 10-across seating in economy.

The reconfigured 777s will be deployed, based on the elimination of first class from seating availability. It shows the elimination of 777 first class in late April from San Francisco to London, and from Washington Dulles to Brussels, Frankfurt and Tokyo Narita.

At the end of August from Chicago O’Hare to Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo Narita, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt and Munich.

Meanwhile, United’s seasonal summer route from San Francisco to Xi’An, China, which had previously been scheduled for three 787 flights a week from May 6 through September 4, has been eliminated for 2018.

Las Vegas is due to get its first non-stop service to South America next summer.

LATAM Airlines Brasil has filed plans to operate a 767 three times a week between Las Vegas and Sao Paulo from June 21 through August 31.

Lufthansa’s lower-cost leisure affiliate Eurowings plans to launch new transatlantic routes in 2018, including JFK-Dusseldorf starting April 28, Dusseldorf-Miami as of May 4, and Dusseldorf-Ft. Myers beginning May 3.

Now it appears that the airline will try to entice business travelers onto those flights by adding a new business class cabin.

The new Eurowings cabin, simply called Bizclass, will feature seats that recline fully and will include upgraded meals and other special amenities. Details of Eurowings’ new Bizclass were introduced in March at the big ITB Travel Fair in Berlin.

Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris, which already had service out of San Jose to Guadalajara, has now added two more routes.

Volaris has started twice-weekly flights from SJC to Morelia on Fridays and Sundays, as well as twice-weekly service from SJC to Zacatecas on Mondays and Thursdays. Next summer, Aeromexico is due to begin SJC-Mexico City flights.

Panama’s Copa Airlines, a member of United’s Star Alliance family, has added Denver as its 13th U.S. gateway.

The carrier has kicked off new non-stop service four days a week from Denver to Panama City, with Denver departures on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 10:16 p.m. Copa offers onward connections in Panama to 55 Latin American destinations.

Italian carrier Meridiana plans to add two U.S. routes next summer. On June 1, it will begin daily service from Milan Malpensa to New York JFK, followed up on June 8 by four flights a week from Malpensa to Miami.

The airline will use a 247-passenger, two-class Airbus A330 on both routes.

On April 30, 2018, Alaska Airlines ended its Mileage Plan partnership with Air France-KLM – not really a surprise considering that the European duo has a joint venture partnership with Alaska’s arch-rival Delta.

Alaska and Delta ended their own mileage partnership last spring. The Alaskan carrier notes that it still has partnership agreements to Europe in place with British Airways, Finnair, Icelandair and Condor.

The latest schedule updates from Norwegian show the low-cost carrier plans to boost service on several U.S. routes in late March, increasing its weekly Barcelona frequencies from three to four out of Los Angeles, from three to five out of Oakland, and from four to six out of Newark.

The carrier will also boost LAX-Copenhagen service from three flights a week to four.

At Boston, Norwegian plans to increase London Gatwick service from four flights a week to seven starting June 12, but it will discontinue its seasonal Boston-Oslo and Boston-Copenhagen flights.


Tourism Observer

MEXICO: More And More Tourists, Feeling Unwanted In U.S. Are Opting For Canada.

Many tourists, feeling undesirable in the U.S., are going elsewhere instead.

Airports in Miami, Orlando, San Antonio and Denver clocked fewer travelers coming from Mexico City and Guadalajara in the first two months of 2017, while Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver saw a surge in traffic from Mexico’s capital.

It’s not hard to see why Mexicans may be choosing to alter their travel plans, what with all those Twitter jabs by U.S. President Donald Trump, his plans for a wall between the two nations and uncertainty over travel restrictions.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on the other hand, announced plans last June to lift a visa requirement for Mexicans that allows them to enter the country with only a passport.

A lot of people have canceled their trips to the U.S. because they don’t understand the new rules or are simply scared of them.

That’s been bad news for airlines focusing on U.S.-Mexico routes. Mexico’s two largest carriers, Grupo Aeromexico SAB and Controladora Vuela Cia. de Aviacion SAB, which operates as Volaris, recently cut their growth estimates on softer-than-expected demand.

Volaris Chief Executive Officer Enrique Beltranena blamed the Trump phenomenon and its effect on international travel as the main reason the carrier pared its second-quarter forecast for capacity growth to as much as 18 percent from as much as 23 percent — the first downward revision since 2014 for the fast-expanding discounter.

The Trump administration has ordered customs officials to enhance visa screening on visitors, including those from Mexico.

And while Mexicans aren’t directly affected by a proposed ban on travel from some countries or restrictions on electronic devices on flights from some airports, the measures add to the confusion.

A decline in tourism from Mexico could hurt American businesses that cater to travelers, including hotels and destinations like theme parks. Mexican visitors spent $19.7 billion in the U.S. in 2015, trailing only Chinese and Canadian travelers, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

U.S.-bound passengers from Mexico City to San Antonio declined 34 percent in January and 37 percent in February, according to data from Mexico’s Communications and Transportation Ministry.

Meanwhile, traffic from Mexico City to Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver surged, with gains of as much as 67 percent in January and 46 percent the following month, depending on the destination.

Aeromexico, with a wider route network than Volaris, can partially offset the decline with its stream of steady business travel. Volaris, which relies heavily on Mexican leisure passengers and customers visiting friends and family in the U.S., started seeing some improvement in March, analyst Duane Pfennigwerth at Evercore ISI wrote in a note Thursday.

It appears demand trends have recovered since February when U.S. travel policy uncertainty was very high. Mexico domestic leisure trends are strong but northbound leisure travel to the U.S. has not fully recovered.

The peso’s 10 percent gain this year and a more moderate tone from the U.S. could help Volaris further, Pfennigwerth said. On the other hand, he said, headline risk remains and the new administration has thus far given leisure travelers from the rest of the world reasons to delay or reconsider travel to the United States.

That’s certainly the case for Mario Hinojosa, a businessman in Monterrey, Mexico.

Hinojosa said he can understand why folks may not want to visit the U.S. after Trump took office. His daughter had been considering a study-abroad program in either New York or Washington when they started noticing a change in sentiment toward Latinos.

I said to her: no. Not this year, he recalled. I will pay for you to go to Italy for the summer if you want, but not the United States.

USA: Plan Your Trip To The U.S. Now Is A Digital Marketing Campaign In Mexico To Attract Mexican Tourists

A public-private partnership created six years ago to boost U.S. tourism has a message for Mexicans: We welcome you, even if it may seem like President Donald Trump doesn't.

After a drop in travel since Trump took office in January, Brand USA is launching a digital marketing campaign in Mexico this month with the slogan "Planifica tu viaje a USA ahora" -- Plan your trip to the U.S. now.

The goal is to convince Mexicans that Trump's vow to build a wall along the southern border, ban travelers from some countries and tighten visa screenings shouldn't keep them from packing a suitcase and heading north.

Nothing has changed about how our friends and visitors from Mexico plan their trip to the U.S. and how they enter the country, said Chris Thompson, chief executive officer of the Washington-based group.

We're really working on separating the perception versus the reality. There's been a lot of conversation, but nothing legally has changed.

The reason behind the push is simple: Mexicans are the second-largest group of visitors to the U.S. after Canadians, and in 2015 alone they spent almost $20 billion.

But the task isn't easy. Anti-Trump sentiment and a weaker peso have already affected travel to the U.S. Air traffic from Mexico to U.S. leisure destinations dropped for the first two months of the year, according to Mexico's Communications and Transportation Ministry.

It's not that Mexicans aren't traveling; they may be headed to Canada instead.

Airports in Miami, Orlando, San Antonio and Denver clocked fewer visitors from Mexico City and Guadalajara in the first two months of 2017, while Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver saw a surge in traffic from Mexico's capital.

Brand USA's public money comes from $10 out of every $14 that travelers under the U.S. Visa Waiver Program pay to register every two years.

That money is set aside in a tourism trust fund, Thompson said, of which the organization takes $100 million each year and matches it with private funds from its partners.

The federal government provides the seed money but requires us to make sure that we match every federal dollar with a private dollar, Thompson said.

This fiscal year, the budget stands at $165 million, which will be deployed in similar campaigns in 40 different markets, he said.

Some of Brand USA's board members include Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson; Kyle Edmiston, Louisiana's tourism director; and Rossi Ralenkotter, president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Board members are appointed by the U.S. secretary of commerce in consultation with the secretary of state and the secretary of homeland security, according to the organization's website.

The Brand USA marketing campaign could be welcome news for Mexican airlines, which had a tough first quarter. Grupo Aeromexico SAB posted a net loss and retired additional aircraft, and Controladora Vuela Cia. de Aviacion, or Volaris, missed estimates.

Regarding uncertainty in immigration policy in the U.S., we saw some softness, said Andres Conesa, CEO of Aeromexico, in an April 26 investor call. The quarter was very challenging for the Mexican aviation industry.

Volaris also saw its first-quarter results slide, which the company attributed in part to "the U.S. discussions on travel bans, talks about stricter passenger-screening methods" as well as visa and migratory-status debates, CEO Enrique Beltranena said in a call with investors.

Mexico is a hugely important market to the U.S., Thompson said. Nothing about what makes the U.S. a compelling place to visit has changed.