Southwest links LA to Cancun with direct flights

Passengers celebrate the airline's first flight from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta. Photo: Southwest Airlines
Passengers celebrate the airline’s first flight from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta. Photo: Southwest Airlines

Already making huge strides in Mexico market over the past two years, Southwest Airlines as of Sunday has new direct flights from Los Angeles to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos.

These are the first routes being put into operation since the signing of the bilateral agreement between the two countries, reports Travel Pulse. 

The airline has one daily nonstop to Puerto Vallarta and two nonstops each to Cancun and Los Cabos.

“This is a great day for us. To think we’re just a few months into our third year of international travel and we’re able to open this route, it’s exciting for the company,” said Southwest Vice President of Finance Paul Cullen. “It continues to show the amazing growth opportunity that Mexico represents for us and the strong demand.”

Southwest has already become the top airline with U.S. service to Cancun and hopes to be the second-largest carrier into Los Cabos by mid-2017. 

“We are looking for additional points in the United States from which we can fly to Mexico beach destinations,” said the company’s director of international business development Steven Swan.

The Mexican journalists on hand for the inaugural flight from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta expressed concern that the impending Donald Trump presidency will sour relationships, but Swan made it clear that Mexico is a priority for Southwest.

When asked about expansion into Mexico City, Swan and Cullen both said that while the beach destinations are proven routes, they would wait to see what happens with the joint application of Delta and Aeromexico for gate slots at Mexico City International Airport.

Passengers were provided with Mexico flags to wave as they boarded the Puerto Vallarta flight. Upon landing, the passengers were greeted with a fire-engine water arch salute.

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