Los Cabos Aims To Add 10 New Nonstop Flights From The U.S. After Recent Aviation Safety Update

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Last Updated 1 year ago

It was the day that the Los Cabos tourism officials and domestic airlines have been waiting to happen for two years.

It’s also going to end up being a great day in recent memory for travelers to Los Cabos.

Transition to Category 1

Los Cabos International Airport and the Los Cabos Tourism Trust are wasting no time in using the reclassification of Mexican airlines from category two to category one, the highest level, to bring more flight options to visitors.

The reclassification finally means that Mexican-based airlines can add new flights and destinations from Los Cabos travelers from the United States.

The new landing and takeoff approvals will mean tourists will find more flight options available to travel conveniently to Los Cabos.

The added competition of additional lower-priced airline carriers – such as Volaris and VivaAerobus – will hopefully work to lower the overall airfares Los Cabos travelers will need to pay.

In an environment where the average room rates in Los Cabos are well over $550 per night, with no future expectations of dramatic price decreases the lower airfares may make travelers feel a little better with their budgets.

At Least 10 More Cities

According to the Director of the Los Cabos Tourist Trust, Rodrigo Esponda Cascajares, Los Cabos already boasts nonstop flights to 28 destinations in the United States.

His plan is to expand that number to 10 more cities, and he envisions the domestic airlines with the new category one safety level from the United States Federal Aviation Administration to fill in the extra coverage.

The Lone Star State

Cascajares has his eye on adding nonstop flights from Los Cabos to San Antonio, Texas.

The city of more than 1.5 million people has an airport with 27 gates and an average of 260 daily departures. What’s missing is a direct flight to Los Cabos.

Cascajares mentioned that travelers to Los Cabos have to route through Dallas to get to Los Cabos instead of having a convenient nonstop quick flight.

Both VivaAerobus and Volaris already serve the San Antonio International Airport (SAT), which means that adding an additional destination, in this case Los Cabos, should be a pretty easy and straightforward process.

Discount carrier VivaAerobus currently offers flights to Mexico City, Monterrey and Leon/Del Bajio from San Antonio.

Meanwhile, Volaris provides flights to Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Aeromexico Connect adds a Mexico City flight, while Southwest Airlines has focused on a nonstop regular flight to Cancun as its Mexico service from San Antonio.

Cascajares also has other Texas cities on his mind.

Filling in the Map

When asked about the other potential nonstop destinations, Cascajares is a little less specific about locations.

However, he is looking to fill in some of the key markets in the west and southwest. In particular, key cities in California and Arizona.

For example, Las Vegas, a city in Nevada of more than two million, of which more than a quarter are Hispanic, only has one seasonal nonstop flight to Los Cabos from Harry Reid International Airport with an Alaska flight starting in December.

In all, Los Cabos International Airport is expected to exceed seven million passengers by the end of this year.

Benefits For Travelers

The additional flight service options and hopefully lower fares, once the Mexican airlines are able to increase their frequency and destinations of flights, should ultimately be a benefit for travelers to Los Cabos.

It may take a little bit of time for the additional destination approvals to work their way through the United States Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, along with finding available slots at key airports.

However, hopefully by the time of the peak season, or at least around the start of the new year, travelers to Los Cabos will have something to celebrate with a cheaper and more convenient vacation getaway.