Aeromexico boosts frequency of Vancouver to Mexico City flights

Vancouver’s connection to Mexico will be strengthened late this fall with the addition of six new weekly flights to Mexico City.

Beginning on December 1, Mexican national airline Aeromexico will fly 20 weekly flights from Vancouver International Airpot (YVR) to the Mexican capital’s Benito Juarez International Airport (MEX) – up from the existing 14 flights, representing an 85% increase in the airline’s capacity to Canada’s second largest airport. This means there will be 3,200 seats between the two cities each week.

Aeromexico first launched a daily service in December 2015 using a 124-seat Boeing 737-700, then later upgrading the aircraft to a 160-seat Boeing 737-800 due to high demand. Each flight is approximately 5 hours 30 minutes in duration.

The current flights from YVR leave at 6 pm and arrive at MEX at 10:05 pm while return flights from MEX depart at 11:20 pm and land at YVR at 7 am the next day.

The additional flights will fly from YVR at 1:23 am on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday each week and arrive at MEX at 2:40 pm the next day. Return flights leave MEX at 1:23 am on the same three days and arrive at YVR at 5:33 am.

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Demand on the route, which is already high, is expected to soar after the Canadian federal government’s recent decision to eliminate visa restrictions for Mexican nationals. Vancouver recorded 87,000 overnight visitors from Mexico in 2015, and this will increase to 131,000 annually by 2018.

“Canada’s recent announcement to drop visa requirements for Mexicans, and Aeromexico’s interest in responding to the needs of our customers encouraged us to add the new flights to further consolidate the airline’s presence in this North American country,” said Jorge Goytortua, Corporate Sales Director of Aeromexico, in a statement.

The increase in service also provides British Columbians with more connection options from MEX to other Mexican, Caribbean, Central American, and South American destinations. All of the new flights are timed to provide passengers with quick and convenient connections to other Latin and South American flights.

“We know that Mexicans enjoy traveling to Vancouver, and Canadians are also enticed by the warm weather of Mexico’s beach destinations and its charming colonial cities, which is why we decided to offer our Canadian passengers greater connectivity options to our extensive route network spanning 45 cities across Mexico,” continued Goytortua.

The Vancouver Airport Authority’s ConnectYVR strategic program of cutting airline landing and gate charges over a five-year period is also credited for YVR’s recent success in landing a number of new major routes.

Air Canada also runs a daily flight between Vancouver and Mexico City.

New and improved major YVR routes 2015/2016/2017

• March 15, 2015: Manila, Philippines and New York City, U.S.A. – Philippine Airlines adds four weekly flights to its route from Manila to NYC, with a stop in Vancouver.
• March 29, 2015: Paris, France – Air France begins three times weekly non-stop flight service, with five times weekly schedules during the summer months.
• May 1, 2015: Osaka, Japan – Air Canada Rouge begins five times weekly service to Kansai International Airport.
• June 26, 2015: Kungming, China – China Eastern Airlines begins three times weekly flight service via Shanghai.
• December 9, 2015: Mexico City, Mexico – Aeromexico to begin daily non-stop flight service.
• January 1, 2016: Orlando International Airport – WestJet to begin twice weekly non-stop seasonal flight service.
• January 20, 2016: Orlando-Sanford International Airport – National Airlines to begin two times weekly seasonal flight service.
• February 15, 2016: Cancun, Mexico – Air Canada to begin weekly, non-stop seasonal service.
• May 1, 2016: London Heathrow Airport – British Airways to use an AirBus A380 superjumbo jet for its existing daily non-stop London Heathrow Airport service. The A380 will only be used during the summer months.
• May 6, 2016: London Gatwick Airport – WestJet to begin six times weekly non-stop flight service.
• May 9, 2016: Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport – Air Canada to begin twice daily, non-stop service to San Jose.
• June 1, 2016: Brisbane, Australia – Air Canada to begin daily non-stop flight service.
• June 2, 2016: San Diego International Airport – Air Canada to begin daily, non-stop seasonal service.
• June 4, 2016: Chicago O’Hare International Airport – Air Canada to begin daily, non-stop service.
• June 10, 2016: Dublin Airport – Air Canada to begin seasonal non-stop flight service.
• June 29, 2016: London, Ontario – WestJet to begin four times weekly non-stop seasonal flight service.
• June 29, 2016: Halifax, Nova Scotia – WestJet to begin four times weekly non-stop seasonal flight service.
• June 30, 2016: Hamilton, Ontario – WestJet to begin three times weekly non-stop seasonal flight service.
• July 25, 2016: Xiamen, China – Xiamen Airlines to begin three times weekly non-stop flight service.
• October 20, 2016: Delhi, India – Air Canada to begin three times weekly non-stop flight service.
• December 1, 2016: Mexico City, Mexico – Aeromexico increases weekly flights from 14 to 20.
• December 30, 2016: Hangzhou, China via Qingdao, China – Beijing Capital Airlines to begin three times weekly service.
• February 5, 2017: Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas – Air Canada to begin daily service.
• March 28, 2017: Hong Kong, China – Cathay Pacific increases weekly flights from 14 to 17.