United Airlines has become the latest airline to announce service to Tulum’s new airport, following similar announcements from Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and Spirit Airlines. United is really making a splash here, as the airline will offer up to five daily flights in the market.
Continue reading: United Airlines Will Fly To Tulum’s New Airport
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Tulum has already been overrun and completely lost it's authenticity. Airlines are over-offering service to Tulum now. They'll scale back in a year.
Surprised SWA has not hopped in. Seems like a perfect destination for their México strategy.
Well done United! Now that there will be roughly 10+ flights from the US to Tulum, hopefully, this will take some pressure off Cancun which is over capacity.
Yes, this airport should help with congestion, but the location of it is not great. It's still about 30 minutes south of many of the Tulum resorts. Would have been better if they were located in between Tulum and Playa Del Carmen
The main strip, sure. People still flock there though. Not to mention the surrounding resorts, proximity to Playa del Carmen, and connection to the Tren Maya. Development will continue to develop in the area. The biggest threat to the area isn’t demand, but most likely sargasso.
Many resorts that were 90 minutes plus from CUN will now be a short drive from an airport that is a direct flight for many and at most a single stop for almost everyone in the US.
I’m curious if we’ll see delta add to their current Tulum schedule. Their 1x daily flight looks positively puny given the strength of the ATL connecting hub when their rivals see a lot more demand from their hubs.
Ben, you wrote, "American will offer three daily flights from four cities." I think you have the numbers in reverse. It should be four daily flights from three cities (2x DFW, 1x CLT, 1x MIA).
It is equally as valid to ask if Aeromexico will add Tulum service since AM and DL have a joint venture.
but, yes, DL's schedule doesn't seem like much compared to other carriers.
DL, in generally, doesn't jump into new markets with both feet but if Tulum does prove to turn into an economically successful new airport, DL will need to do more either on its own or with AM.
I wonder to what extent this "all-in" across the board represents a disdain for CUN, which I understand to be unpopular with airlines and travelers alike? Taking all US carriers in total, this is an enormous all-at-once jump into a new destination.
As if everyone in the DMV lives in the District. News flash: they don't, and the VA side is the fastest growing and highest income part of the region.
True but it would be unlike AM to offer nonstops to the US from Tulum. I believe the initial news was that AM was supposed to offer US nonstops from Tulum but I haven’t seen the advertised routes for sale anywhere
I fully expect delta to add frequency but it is strange how different their competitors see the demand environment to Tulum shaping up.
Who knows… perhaps aa and ua will be the ones to pull back schedules vs delta adding
Your numbers are all over the place. You say that United will be offering 22 daily flights and then later in the article you say 3-5 daily flights.
You also have American's numbers backwards as they are offering 4 flights from 3 destinations.
Well, they do not appear to be flying from SFO or IAD either.
Talum is a spiritual / New Age mecca, and so LA makes sense. Denver has the Boulder crowd, but I'm guessing they feel they can route people over the other hubs, or those in Denver will be fine going through CUN.
It's early days, so we will see how it plays out.
Also keep in mind that they have to figure out the best direct/overlow yields, and also aircraft movements in general across the whole system.
Kirby and his team are not dumb. If there is money to be made, the planes will go there. 🙂
Wouldn’t be surprised if Southwest, whose biggest hub is DEN and who is United’s biggest rival at DEN, announces Denver to Tulum, and United quickly follows. They already compete direct to every other major Mexican vacation destination.
Also, Tim Dunn would probably disagree with your assessment of Kirby and team ; )
Not the slightest chance they'll "scale back". Service in March 2025 will greatly exceed service in April 2024. The myopic focus on US carriers in these announcements and coverage in blogs ignores the internationa reality of this area's popularity. Go to Playa del Carmen and you see more Canadians than Americans walking the city. More English, Italians, Mexicans, French... The prospect of avoiding CUN enroute to Playa is thrilling for Playa regulars. I'll happily choose TQO even if it's slightly longer and slightly more expensive. Demand for access to this coast is huge. Air Canada has service form 8 cities, including 4 daily nonstops from Toronto, 3 from Montreal. And there are 4 other Cnaadian carriers serving CUN. And that's just Canada. At least a tenth of this load will be happy to land 120km to the south. I'd expect AC to send at least 10 flights a day there in high season.
The next to respond will be Southwest, Air Canada and Westjet. It’ll be interesting to observe.
Any idea when systems will actually recognise the airport/code? Not even expertflyer recognises the airport and nor do partner airlines other than those actually operating flights.
I am sad for Tulum. Unfortunately this will mean continued and accelerated destruction of a truly unique and beautiful place. There is so much corruption there, that the environment is now the least important far below profits.
The real question is whether Tulum's recent popularity sticks and, if not, whether the better proximity to the resorts on that end will help support service.