New flights to Cancun: air traffic continues to decline
Last year, during February, flights to Cancun mobilized 2.1 million travelers, for the same period of 2021 the figure is down to 1 million.
Despite the announcement of new flights, air traffic at Cancun International Airport has not returned to normal. The report for the first two months of this year, released by Aeropuertos del Sureste (Asur), states that there is a 48% drop in total passenger volume compared to the first two months of 2020.
Only during February, the drop is even greater compared to the same month of 2020, when the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were already beginning, since last year the terminal mobilized 2.1 million passengers, for the same period of 2021 the figure is contracted to one million passengers, that is, 52.8% down.
In domestic traffic, the drop is smaller. The annualized figure for the first two months of the year is -19.9%, i.e., from 1.3 million in 2020 to 1 million passengers in 2021. International travelers decreased from 3.1 million in the first two months of last year to 1.2 million in the same period of 2021. Cozumel International Airport also remains below last year's figures by more than 60%, as in 2020 it mobilized 119,061 passengers during the first two months, but this year the figure drops to 44,879 travelers.
In all the airports that Asur manages in Mexico, the United States, and Colombia, the total number of passengers for the period of February 2021 decreased 49.2% compared to February of last year, reflecting decreases of 53.4% in Mexico, 39.3% in Puerto Rico and 44.7% in Colombia, impacted by severe recessions in business and leisure travel due to the pandemic.
New flights to Cancun
Dario Flota Ocampo, Director of the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council (CPTQ), stated that one year after the beginning of the pandemic, the Cancun International Airport has been able to reestablish air connectivity with 54 foreign cities, of which 35 are from the United States, plus five from Europe and seven from South America; the remaining eight are flights from the American Union to Cozumel.
In addition to Iberojet, he confirmed that by the end of the month the airline TAP will also arrive from Lisbon and Wingo will start flying from Medellin to Cancun. The official said that they are already preparing Quintana Roo's participation in the International Tourism Fair of Spain, as well as in the Tourism Showcase of Bogota, Colombia.
The first flight from Spain lands in Cancun during Covid
After a year of absence caused by the Covid 19 pandemic, tonight a flight with the Madrid-Cancun route of Iberojet, formerly Evelop, landed again at the Cancun International Airport in an Airbus A350 with a capacity of 432 seats.
To the sound of mariachis, Mayan dancers and stilt-walkers, amid strict sanitary measures, the Secretary of Tourism, Marisol Vanegas Pérez; the director of the Caribbean receptive of Grupo Ávoris, Juan Carlos García; the manager of Institutional Relations of Grupo ASUR, Alejandro Rosel and the general director of CPTQ, Darío Flota Ocampo, celebrated the return of the flight that will connect Spain with the Mexican Caribbean.
In 2019, Spain was the second-largest generator of foreign visitors from Europe with a marked preference for the Riviera Maya, with the summer months being the months of greatest demand; the scheduling of these flights represents a big step in the recovery of this Mexican Caribbean destination.
"The return of this route means not only the increase of connections with Europe to the Mexican Caribbean, but also the take-off of our destinations towards a successful tourism recovery that is happening thanks to the confidence and certainty generated by the practice of hygiene habits and protocols and the commitment of all tourism service providers in the state," commented Flota Ocampo.
For his part, Juan Carlos García, director of Caribbean inbound services for Ávoris, the travel division of the Barceló Group, commented: "We are delighted to resume operations between Madrid and Cancun, a much-loved destination with which we have been working for countless years and which for tourists and travelers from Spain is a guarantee of enjoying their vacation time, meeting and exceeding their expectations. For this reason, we hope to return to normality in the shortest possible time, overcoming this forced pause to which we have been forced by circumstances." During March, the airline will cover the route once a week but is expected to increase frequencies during the summer.
