The Mexican ultra-low-cost carrier Viva Aerobus has launched three new routes from Mexico City’s new Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU). Viva Aerobus now operates six routes to and from this new hub, with more to come in the short term.

New routes

On Thursday, the Mexican low-cost operator Viva Aerobus celebrated a new phase in its commercial services at the Felipe Ángeles International. The airline launched three new routes, with services beginning to Puerto Escondido (Thursday), Acapulco (Friday), and Oaxaca (Saturday).

As of September 2022’s first week, NLU is set to have around 132 weekly passenger flights (plus a few additional cargo services, which we will discuss later). More routes will be added throughout the month, for example, Copa Airlines’ new service from Tocumen International Airport (PTY) and Arajet’s inaugural route from Santo Domingo International Airport (SDQ).

Viva Aerobus at Mexico City's Felipe Ángeles International Airport.
Viva Aerobus launched three new routes from Mexico City's new international airport. Photo: Viva Aerobus.

About Viva Aerobus’ new routes, the airline’s CEO, Juan Carlos Zuazua, said it is a pleasure for the company to continue building air bridges at low prices and connecting more points in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. “We already have six routes to and from NLU, operating 240 flights per month and providing travelers with more than half a million seats per year. We will continue working to strengthen Mexico’s air connectivity,” he added.

On these routes, Viva Aerobus employs its Airbus A320 fleet.

Viva’s connectivity in NLU

Viva Aerobus also flies from NLU to Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Cancún (arguably, Mexico City’s top domestic destinations) on a regular basis. The airline will also inaugurate its first international route from this new airport in December. It will launch a commercial service to Havana, Cuba.

Meanwhile, the service to Puerto Escondido will have three weekly flights (Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday), the route to Acapulco will operate twice a week (Monday and Friday), and the flights to Oaxaca will also operate twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday).

Viva Aerobus at Mexico City's Felipe Ángeles International Airport.
Viva Aerobus at Mexico City's Felipe Ángeles International Airport. Photo: Viva Aerobus.

As of the first week of September, Viva Aerobus operates 511 weekly flights from two of the three Mexico City airports (MEX and NLU). The airline is expected to add new routes from Toluca later this month.

NLU’s connectivity

On September 21, the Felipe Angeles Airport will turn six months old. Between March and July, the airport had 151,293 passengers and 1,526 flights. So far, Cancún and Tijuana have been the most successful destinations operated from NLU, with the largest number of passengers.

Yesterday, NLU had its first-ever cargo flight, operated by Aerounión, a Mexican freighter airline.

The airport has not had the success the government would have wanted. It only has one active international operation (by Conviasa, from Caracas). Nonetheless, that soon could change following the announcement that Mexico City Airport would cap its operations at 85%. The remaining 15% will have to be redeployed to other airports –such as NLU– or canceled for the upcoming winter season. So far, there have not been any announcements from airlines looking to redirect their flights to NLU or other airports near Mexico City.

Moreover, Copa Airlines, Arajet, and Viva Aerobus are looking to launch their first international flights in the next few months, which will be great news for the hub.