Prospects for Mexico’s Air Travelers

Tentative signs that the airline industry is recuperating began to emerge recently, with the news that IATA expects airlines to ‘recover strongly’ this year, and some airlines announcing an expansion to their services, notably for those interested in Mexico: British Airways is launching a twice-weekly flight from London’s Gatwick airport to Cancun using a comfortable Boeing 777 and Frontier Airlines introducing two new seasonal services to Mexico and extending its Cancun services.

The cost of flying has risen significantly as compared with the “low-low cost” days of the early 2000’s, as airlines have introduced a plethora of ‘extra’ fees which are added on to headline ticket prices.  Passengers now have to pay for things like dealing with an agent instead of undertaking a self-check-in, carry-on and/or checked baggage, as well as onboard services like food and drink.  Charges for making changes to existing flight bookings have also increased significantly.  This new ‘pick and choose’ marketing model has brought considerable new revenues to the airlines and is giving choices to passengers about what services they want, while not putting-off potential customers altogether with higher headline ticket prices.

Mexico’s domestic airline market has changed in recent years. The monopoly enjoyed by Mexicana and Aeromexico has been transformed into an oligopoly for the players—dashing expectations, for now, that Mexico’s domestic flight transportation market would become truly competitive and mirror the European model.

Notwithstanding that today virtually all airlines in Mexico are owned by the country’s most influential commercial barons, domestic flight prices have been reduced on routes connecting the country’s most popular towns and cities, and it’s now less expensive to fly to and from the States than it was before Mexico signed an “open skies” agreement with the USA.

You can search for and book flights to and within Mexico using Mexperience.  Our flight search-and-quote system gathers flight and price information from most airlines in Mexico and world-wide.

See Also: Our complete guide to Air Travel in Mexico.