Gay Nagle Myers
Look for Mexico’s low-cost Volaris airline to expand its domestic and international route networks and fleet totals in 2013, according to CEO Enrique Beltranena.
The carrier currently serves 10 U.S. destinations and is in partnership with Southwest Airlines on its flights that connect with Southwest gateways.
Its newest international route is weekly year-round Denver-Mexico City service, which it launched Dec. 8.
On the domestic front, where much of the 2013 expansion is planned, Volaris serves 27 destinations.
The carrier’s fleet totals 41 A320s, with three more aircraft expected by year’s end, Beltranena said.
Volaris launched 18 new routes in 2012 — 12 domestic and six to the U.S. —which gave it more new routes last year than any other Mexican carrier, according to figures released by Mexico’s Centre for Aviation.
Beltranena said that Volaris focused more on domestic expansion last year, which paid off with a total of 5.2 million passengers carried through November, up 25% over the same period in 2011.
U.S. traffic grew 24% in the same time period, to 1.1 million passengers, but data showed that the growth slowed from September through November, compared with increases posted in the same time slot in 2011.
New domestic destinations already planned for a February launch include Volaris flights from Mexico City to both Merida and Tuxtla Gutierrez (in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico).
Later this year the carrier will launch its longest route to date, from Tijuana to Cancun, a distance of 2,012 miles.
This is an airline to watch. With Mexicana out of the market since declaring bankruptcy in August 2010 and its chances for rising from the dead apparently slim to none, Volaris moved in quickly to claim its share of the skyways.