Airlines blame airport fees, travelers blame Tulum's prices, and the flights keep disappearing

Aeroméxico flew its last flight out of Tulum on Wednesday. Volaris set January 7 as its own last day. From that date, Tulum airport flights on Mexican airlines run through Viva Aerobus and Mexicana.

As of Thursday, the Mexico City route no longer appears in Aeroméxico's itineraries, according to Infobae. Volaris told El Financiero it will keep flying to Tulum until January 7 and will stop selling tickets for later dates this weekend.

Both decisions land on a destination whose hotels were under half full during the low season and whose airport is moving about half as many passengers as it did in January. Fewer seats to Tulum mean fewer arrivals for the hotels, restaurants, taxis, and tour operators that rebuilt their businesses around the terminal after it opened in December 2023.

Airport statistics cited by Infobae put commercial traffic at 107,751 passengers in January and 53,428 in August. Between January and August, the terminal handled 583,408 passengers across 4,758 operations.

"We have a fairly challenging occupancy. We are around 40 to 50 percent," Bernardo Cueto, tourism secretary of Quintana Roo, told Expansión, describing September as a difficult month with a marked drop in air operations and available seats. State tourism figures put Tulum's average occupancy at 48.8 percent in the last week of June. David Ortiz Mena, president of the Tulum Hotel Association, told Infobae that occupancy has been running as much as 10 percentage points below last year's levels, with the trend evident since May.

The last Mexico City flight left Wednesday

Aeroméxico calls the move a temporary suspension. The airline said September 30 was its final day of service in Tulum and attributed the decision to market conditions and to the need to "maximize our route network." It has announced no return date, and Aviacionline reported that the carrier does not appear in the terminal's October schedule.

The airline arrived in December 2023 with two daily flights from Mexico City, a frequency it trimmed over the following two years. By the time it announced the pause, it was running seven weekly flights from the capital's main airport and four from Felipe Ángeles.

Passengers holding tickets for travel after September 30 are subject to a flexibility policy the airline published in mid-September, which offers rebooking on other flights, an electronic voucher, or a refund.

Volaris stops selling seats this weekend

Volaris confirmed its exit on Wednesday, days after Aeroméxico's announcement was reported by the press. The airline said it had reviewed the profitability of its network and suspended "some flights that record lower load factors," including Tulum, with the cut taking effect on January 7, 2027.

Its reasons reach past demand. Volaris cited increases in airport use fees, fuel costs, and air navigation charges levied by SENEAM, along with the 35 percent rise scheduled for 2027 in the non-resident fee paid by foreign travelers arriving by air.

Bookings through January 7 stand.

Travelers whose trips fall after that date will be offered rebooking, electronic vouchers or refunds, and the airline said it hopes to fly to Tulum again before long.

What is left of Tulum airport flights after January 7

Viva Aerobus and Mexicana keep the domestic market, concentrated on high-volume routes such as Guadalajara and Monterrey. An analysis of Cirium schedule data published by Cranky Flier estimates the terminal will handle between two and four domestic departures a day this winter, a count made while Volaris was still in the schedule.

International service arrives on a seasonal calendar. The federal tourism ministry announced in September that four airlines, Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet and United, will link Tulum with Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Quebec and Newark during the 2026-2027 winter, with up to 10 weekly frequencies beginning in stages from October. United operates the Newark route from December 17 to January 24, on Thursdays and Sundays.

Avianca and Copa stopped flying to Tulum before either Mexican carrier did.

"Now those options compete with each other"

Rafael Durand, operations director at PriceTravel, told Expansión that the North American traveler who looked to Mexico three or four years ago now holds three or four Caribbean choices. "Now those options compete with each other," he said.

Punta Cana is the clearest case. Durand said the Dominican destination has gained direct frequencies from Mexico and that passenger growth to the Dominican Republic within PriceTravel's network has surpassed 80 percent year over year. Jamaica is rebuilding hotel capacity after Hurricane Melissa forced closures last year.

Days before confirming the Tulum cut, Aeroméxico announced two new routes from Mexico City to Nassau and Montego Bay, both scheduled to begin before Easter 2027.

Price sits inside the calculation. Durand placed Cancún and the Riviera Maya at the top of the regional price scale, above the Dominican Republic and then Jamaica, and said hotel groups that leaned on American visitors are now looking at the domestic market and at travelers from Colombia, Argentina and Brazil.

Sheinbaum published the Tulum Renace plan in July

The federal response predates both announcements. President Claudia Sheinbaum announced in July the publication in the official gazette of Plan Tulum Renace, which reset access to the Jaguar Park, the archaeological zone and the protected natural area. Mexican visitors enter the park free and pay 80 pesos for the archaeological zone, with free admission on Sundays. Foreign visitors pay 265 pesos.

The plan also commits to electric mobility within the park, a National Guard program for tourist assistance, certification for service providers, a parking lot at the southern access, a new public transport system, a permanent promotional campaign, and a program to attract new air routes.

Tourism Secretary Josefina Rodríguez Zamora framed the goal as "improving the experience of those who visit us" rather than a matter of cutting fees alone. Cueto said Tulum "has a clear plan" developed with the federal government and acknowledged that the destination needs stronger infrastructure, mobility, and supply to stay competitive.

That route attraction program now carries a heavier load than it did in July. The first seasonal Canadian flight is scheduled for late October, and United's Newark service ends on January 24, seventeen days after Volaris parks its last aircraft in Tulum.

With two Mexican airlines gone by January, what should Tulum fix first to bring the flights back? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes.