Southwest will begin flying from Los Angeles to Puerto
Vallarta, Cancun and Los Cabos on Dec. 4. The routes will be the first to
Mexico from
LAX for the carrier.
The news comes three months after Southwest announced that
it would apply for permission to operate those routes, following the
finalization of a new aviation agreement between the U.S. and Mexico.
Under that agreement, which goes into effect on Sunday,
there are no limits on the number of carriers that can serve any U.S.-Mexico
city pair. The previous agreement between the two countries limited markets to three
airlines from each country. Southwest will be the fourth U.S. airline to fly
each of the routes.
Southwest also has announced two new Mexico routes from
Oakland since the signing of the new U.S.-Mexico aviation agreement.
Southwest already flies to Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos
from Orange County’s John Wayne Airport.
The LAX flights are on sale and have received DOT approval,
but they must still receive regulatory approval from Mexico.