Discount Mexican airline plans takeoff next year from Miami airport, a growing global hub
Mexican airline Viva Aerobus is the latest discount airline with plans to take off from Miami International Airport, tapping into the airport’s expanding role as a global hub.
The airline will operate three flights a week — Monday, Wednesday, and Friday — from Miami to Monterrey starting on July 1, 2024, officials said.
Then a day later on July 2, 2024, Aerobus will start four weekly flights — Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday — between Miami and Merida. The airline will fly planes with room for 186 and 240 passengers.
Monterrey is a key industrial city in Mexico and one of country’s technology capitals. It is home to the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, one of Latin America’s most respected universities. Merida is the capital of the state of Yucatan, known for Mayan sites and culture.
“This new route not only connects individual cities but provides the Magic City passengers with a wide range of connecting flights that link Monterrey and Merida to over 30 key destinations to discover Mexico,” Juan Carlos Zuazua, CEO of Viva Aerobus, said in a prepared statement. “It also represents more opportunities for Mexican travelers to enjoy Miami´s natural wonders, museums, and theme parks, ... and business markets; thus, boosting local tourism and economy.”
The announcement by the Mexican airline comes as Miami airport continues to add routes and flights from large carriers such as American Airlines, its biggest and one already flying between Miami and Mexico, and Delta, as well as upstart airlines worldwide.
On Sept. 19, Barcelona-based carrier LEVEL said it would begin three weekly flights between Barcelona and Miami on March 31, 2024. About two weeks earlier, German low-cost airline Condor Airlines announced it would start flying three times a week next May from Miami airport to Frankfurt.
Last month, Norwegian discount airline Norse Atlantic started flights from Miami airport to London Gatwick four times a week and to Oslo two times a week. On Dec. 12, Norse plans to begin operating flights from Miami to Paris four times weekly, and beginning Dec. 14, to Berlin once a week.
The addition of Monterrey-based Viva Aerobus, which started flying in 2006, shows that while Miami may be forever intertwined with Cuba, the importance of the United States’ largest trading partner Mexico is growing here.
Indeed, Miami airport officials said Mexico was its second-largest foreign market served last year, accounting for almost 1.7 million passengers.
More broadly, in 2022, Mexico was the fourth-largest source of international overnight visitors to Miami-Dade County, according to a report released in the spring by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. The country trailed only Colombia, Brazil, and Canada.
“I greatly look forward to welcoming Viva Aerobus,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a prepared statement. The new routes “will provide our residents and visitors with even more travel options to Mexico.”
