It’s a huge day for Quintana Roo, as Tulum’s new airport has just welcomed its first commercial flight…
In this post:
The basics of Tulum’s new international airport
The Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport (TQO) in Tulum, Mexico, has started commercial operations as of December 1, 2023.
This airport has been a long time coming — bidding for construction started well over a decade ago, in 2011. However, nothing happened for many years, and when Andrés Manuel López Obrador became president of Mexico in 2018, the project wasn’t a priority.
However, with Tulum’s increasing popularity, combined with capacity limitations at Cancun Airport, the project once again became a priority in late 2022. Amazingly enough, just one year later, construction is complete, and the airport is operational.
The airport features a mighty long 12,000 foot runway, and is located on roughly five square miles of land. The airport has 12 gates, and there will also be a military base at the airport. Speaking of the military, the airport is actually being run by the military, much like the secondary Felipe Angeles International Airport (NLU) in Mexico City.
The new airport is expected to create more than 15,000 new jobs in Quintana Roo, and the goal is to attract more than five million passengers annually. This should become the second busiest airport on the Yucatan Peninsula, after Cancun International Airport (CUN). It’ll have significantly more traffic than Cozumel International Airport (CZM), which sees fewer than a million passengers per year.
Mara Lezama, the Governor of Quintana Roo, shared the below pictures of the new airport.
Below is a video of the terminal.
Planned air service to Tulum’s new Airport
Initially, Tulum’s new airport will only see domestic service, with flights to the following destinations:
- Aeromexico Connect will fly to Mexico City
- Viva Aerobus will fly to Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey, and Tijuana
Then as of late March 2024, we’re going to see the airport open up to international airlines. Four US airlines have already announced plans to start flying to Tulum from the following airports:
- American Airlines will fly from Charlotte, Dallas, and Miami
- Delta Air Lines will fly from Atlanta
- Spirit Airlines will fly from Fort Lauderdale and Orlando
- United Airlines will fly from Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Newark
Given that we’re seeing more than once daily frequencies in come of these markets, we can expect over a dozen nonstop peak day flights between the United States and Tulum, and that’s before more service is even added. Wow.
I’m curious to see how demand evolves over time, especially in the off season. It seems that airlines are going all-in now, though those demand expectations don’t always materialize the way airlines hope.
If nothing else, this should alleviate a little congestion at Cancun Airport, since historically most people traveling to Tulum have flown into there.
Bottom line
Tulum’s new airport has just accepted its first passenger flight, which is a major development. While the idea for the airport goes back over a decade, construction only really started in late 2022, so it’s impressive how quickly the airport has opened.
The military-run airport has a 12,000 foot runway and 12 gates. It’s now welcoming domestic flights, and as of March 2024, it’ll open to international flights. This is great for travelers looking to visit the region. Those who liked Tulum for being a bit quieter than Cancun probably won’t be happy about this development. Then again, Tulum hasn’t exactly been off the radar for quite some time now…
What do you make of the new airport in Tulum?
Every Country is developing new ways of communication and infrastructure to keep up with life changes.
USA has devastated millions of acres with their 6 or 8-line super highways, have changed the ecosystem of Everglades, and Dubai, and disturbed the ecosystem of the bottom of the sea to create their artificial islands and palms.
China, Malaysia, and other countries have gained land by taking the sand from the bottom of the ocean.
...
Every Country is developing new ways of communication and infrastructure to keep up with life changes.
USA has devastated millions of acres with their 6 or 8-line super highways, have changed the ecosystem of Everglades, and Dubai, and disturbed the ecosystem of the bottom of the sea to create their artificial islands and palms.
China, Malaysia, and other countries have gained land by taking the sand from the bottom of the ocean.
In Mexico, they have a huge reforestation program, the biggest in the entire world, to combat climate change.
In the US they have about 5193 airports to serve a fleet of over 205, 000 thousand aircraft without counting the arrivals from all over the world.
This new airport will give the possibility to connect with the Mayan train and tour all the rich archeological sights. mexico deserves to create new jobs for their people
This, along with the new mayan train, is going to cut the taxi cartel's power WAY down in this area. Especially on the hijacking prices on the trip to cancun and back on a really dodgy route. And that's a good thing for tourists. Might be tough for some of the hotels on the route though where they're going to seem less interesting at 'just 30 minutes from Tulum!' than whatever new ones go up now.
Tulum airport is a huge benefit for the economy and will take the flights away from the over crowded Cancun (CUN) airport. Environmentalist hate changing anything....it's a jungle... might as well turn it into a profit
So the new Berlin airport took 14 years to build and ran 3x over budget. Mexico built this airport in under a year. I give Mexico credit for building a midsize airport efficiently. Hopefully corners werent cut and the fire suppression system works unlike Berilin's when it opened.
There goes the neighborhood. :/
I’m always weary of any building that gets built very efficiently, in any country. Some overworked construction workers probably cut corners at some point. Wait a few months and there’ll be some part of the building that will fall or some similar incident :(
This airport should relieve substantial pressure from the overcrowded Cancun airport and, given that it is also close to Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya, reduce travel time and need for transport between Cancun and these areas to the south. I'm glad that international service will begin there by March... if not hopefully sooner.
Apparently FlightRadar24 didn't get the memo that they opened today.
Expertflyer still doesn't recognize TQO in spite of the months' advance warning of the airport's opening and customer requests that they support it.
Still took less time to plan and build than Berlin Brandenburg.
don't understand the need to build a new airport in the middle of the jungle that will have a devastating impact on the environment and the ecosystem and that will only cut by an hour the commute it takes from the airport in Cancun, which is only 1 hour and 30 min from Tulum.
I agree with you to an extent, but I think it's also to give Cancun relief. CUN is overrun, immigration and the arrivals process is a nightmare, even if you have a pre-arranged car. That drive is also 2+ hours. Only time it's been less than that for me was very late at night.
This new airport is bittersweet, though. There's no denying the environmental impact, not to mention Tulum is already over touristed....
I agree with you to an extent, but I think it's also to give Cancun relief. CUN is overrun, immigration and the arrivals process is a nightmare, even if you have a pre-arranged car. That drive is also 2+ hours. Only time it's been less than that for me was very late at night.
This new airport is bittersweet, though. There's no denying the environmental impact, not to mention Tulum is already over touristed. This will only make it worse. All of these new resorts all claim to be eco-friendly, yet they're taking over "protected" mangroves... It's only going to get worse - same with Nayarit.
Yes the environment is now permanently devastated. RIP.
Sure CUN’s capacity may have been a bottleneck to protect the environment, but it was bound to overflow anyways. If you really cared, you’d look at the Tren Maya…
Seems abit over dramatic. Mexicans deserve an efficient transportation system and an economy that can support its people. Tiring having people in the developed world lecture others who want to improve their lives too.
I believe it will be a relief, instead of spending time in traffic or a long drive, there is now flexibility. This is an amazing area that is worth exploring, studying and understanding. A simple balancing will lower the congestion and shorten drive times. What a relief this will be.
There is no way you can get to Tulum from CUN in anywhere near 90 mins, closer to 3 hours post-arrival unless you're flying private and your driver meets you at the plane.
The increased access to Yucatan esp Playa del Carmen, is great. This might balance out the traffic. The highway along the cost is practically a local road.
Just wish it would open before March. Surprised that AUS isn't one of the airports that is on the list.
It's a jungle... turn it into a profit. The ecosystem and environment will be fine.
This is a well needed project for the Maya Riviera... ecosystem and environment are fine (tree hugger)...go to Cancun and avoid the new airport in Tulum .
The experience will depend on the immigration process, which very much depends on the arrival time of the airlines. I have not analyzed the schedules, but I expect most US flights will arrive around the same time, which means long lines guaranteed ...
I can't be the only one thinking that airport design won't age well. The check-in counters look like a tiki bar.
The design is to make people feel in a party Mood from the moment they land at the jungle airport.
All modern cities have the same look, big slabs of cold concrete and glass.
here they have a warm, laidback feel. :-)
You have to give the Mexican government credit for building airports where few countries are able to do that any more.
Given that air travel from the US to Mexico continues to grow, there should be no problem seeing this and other Mexican airports grow.
I wish them well. Other governments esp. in Latin America wish they were in the same position.