The Mexican low-cost carrier Viva Aerobus will launch three new nonstop routes between Mexico and the US during May. This airline is betting big on the Mexico-US market this summer, increasing the number of routes, cities served, and capacity. Let’s investigate further.
What about Viva Aerobus’ new routes?
Starting on May 29, Viva Aerobus will launch three routes from two Mexican airports. Bajío International Airport (BJX) will have two new routes to Houston (IAH) and San Antonio (SAT), according to Routes.com.
Meanwhile, Viva Aerobus will also connect Los Cabos (SJD) with Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).
The route BJX-IAH will have three weekly frequencies, using an Airbus 320neo with a capacity for 186 passengers. Meanwhile, BJX-SAT will have two weekly flights, also using Viva’s A320neo fleet.
Finally, SJD-CVG will only happen once a week using the A320 fleet of Viva Aerobus. This route will be seasonal, operated between May 29 and August 8.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Viva Aerobus has launched and announced 15 new routes to the US. Most of them depart from Mexico City or Monterrey.
According to Cirium, Viva Aerobus has scheduled 21 routes between Mexico and the United States for the current summer season (between March 28 and October 30). To this number, we will have to add the three new flights, which are currently not included in Cirium’s database.
The Mexican low-cost carrier flies to Nashville, Cincinnati, Dallas Fort-Worth, Newark, Houston, JFK, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare, and San Antonio.
That’s an increase compared to the 11 routes it had to the United States back in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. During 2019’s summer season, Viva flew to Nashville, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Newark, Houston, Los Angeles, JFK, Las Vegas, and Houston.
Viva Aerobus’ growth despite the crisis
The COVID-19 crisis crippled the airline industry in 2020. But Viva Aerobus has found a way to grow despite the uncertainty. The low-cost airline has seized the opportunity that Interjet’s demise opened.
Plus, Viva Aerobus has also used to its advantage the Mexican Government policy to never close borders. Both this airline and its low-cost competitor Volaris have found a way to grow in the last few months, launching new routes and aggressively competing against Aeromexico in Mexico, the US, and elsewhere. For instance, both Viva and Volaris are looking to start flying to Colombia in the next few months, their first destination in South America.
Despite the growth, Viva Aerobus has been careful. The airline has maintained healthy load factor levels. According to CH-Aviation, Viva Aerobus had the fourth-highest load factor in January worldwide, behind Brazil’s GOL and Azul and Mexico’s Volaris.
The Mexico-US market this summer looks good
Worldwide, not many markets have rebounded as good from the COVID-19 pandemic as the Mexico-US one. Before the US introduction of obligatory COVID-19 testing before boarding, there was a V-Shaped recovery between them. In February, there was a slight decrease in the number of passengers. Nevertheless, things are looking good for the summer.
According to Cirium, there will be nearly 76,000 operations between Mexico and the United States during the summer. That’s a 5% increase compared to the number of flights scheduled in 2019’s summer season! So, that’s excellent news for both countries.
But, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that things can change in a heartbeat. If this number of scheduled operations is unchanged, that’s great. Unfortunately, we can’t put all our chips on that happening due to the possibility of a third, fourth, and even fifth waves of COVID-19 infections.
What do you think of Viva Aerobus’ plans in the US? Let us know in the comments.