More Fresno to Mexico flights? What a new airline alliance would mean for local travelers

A Mexico-based airline has entered a commercial alliance with Allegiant Air in hopes of opening up markets like Fresno for flights to Mexican cities and beach resorts.

Allegiant Air, which currently offers flights at Fresno Yosemite International Airport to Las Vegas, this week announced that it is partnering with Viva Aerobus and filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation seeking approval and antitrust immunity for the alliance.

In a joint statement, the two airlines said the alliance is “designed to dramatically expand options for nonstop leisure air travel between the United States and Mexico, while lowering fares to make travel more accessible and affordable for residents of both nations.”

New nonstop service between Fresno and Monterrey, Mexico, is among the first routes that Allegiant and Viva say they intend to launch within the first year of operations, possibly as early as 2023. Monterrey is considered a notable center for business and industry, and its metropolitan area in the state of Nuevo León is the second most populous in the country at more than 5.3 million people.

“Allegiant and Viva Aerobus operating together will be a tremendous win for consumers seeking affordable, nonstop travel between the U.S. and Mexico, and will create rippling economic benefits for hospitality sector businesses across both nations,” Allegiant CEO Michael Gallagher Jr. said in the joint statement.

Viva CEO Juan Carlos Zuazua noted that the U.S.-Mexico market is the largest international air travel market in the world.

“During the pandemic it has outperformed any other market due to a strong leisure and VFR (visiting friends and relatives) recovery where both Viva Aerobus and Allegiant have excelled,” Zuazua said. “This … alliance will create new nonstop connectivity and more competition, strengthening the immense Hispanic VFR market” as well as opening vacation destinations for passengers in both countries.

Airport’s response to alliance

Viva Aerobus, based in Monterrey, has a network of routes within Mexico and also has international flights to the U.S. and Latin America. Allegiant flies nonstop to more than 130 cities in the U.S., primarily from smaller airports to leisure destinations such as Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida, but currently has no service to Mexico.

“We know that Fresno-Monterrey is a prospect” for the alliance, said Vikkie Calderon, a spokesperson for Fresno Yosemite International Airport. “There’s currently no commitment from Allegiant that it will take place, but we’re excited at the prospect of expanded international service to Fresno.”

“It’s still early in the process, and we don’t know what the plan is with Allegiant and Viva Aerobus for Fresno,” Calderon added. “We’re going to continue to monitor the progress of their application and stay in touch with them.”

The current roster of cities in Mexico served by nonstop flights from Fresno by either Volaris or Aeromexico are Guadalajara, Morelia, Leon, and Mexico City.

In their joint application to federal regulators, Allegiant and Viva Aerobus said their alliance “will enable Allegiant to broaden its ULCC (ultra-low-cost carrier)-priced travel offerings from its cities to include new service to additional world-class leisure destinations such as Cancún, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.”

Allegiant also hopes to gain, through the alliance, “an indirect foothold in congested … Mexican airports” such as Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International “having substantial traffic flows to U.S. leisure destinations that Allegiant serves,” the application states.

Viva Aerobus anticipates broadening its customer base by taking advantage of Allegiant’s distribution network and point-of-sale ticket marketing in the U.S. “While Viva has been cautiously working its way into the Mexico-U.S. market, Viva has not been successful in gaining U.S.-originating leisure customers traveling to Mexico,” the application states.

If the alliance agreement is approved by both the U.S. Department of Transportation and Mexico’s Federal Economic Competition Commission, an Allegiant spokesperson said the hope is for flights to begin under the partnership in the first quarter of 2023.

The application details that “within the first year of operation, the alliance intends to launch service to at least 11 new routes” between cities in the U.S. and Mexico. Those include:

• Fresno-Monterrey.

• Cancún-South Bend, Indiana.

• Cancún-St. Louis, Missouri.

• Cancún-Memphis, Tennessee.

• Cancún-Houston, Texas.

• Cancún-Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Florida.

• Cancún-San Antonio, Texas.

• Merida-San Antonio.

• Monterrey-Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg.

• Mexico City-Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg.

• Mexico City-Austin, Texas.

“These are all routes Allegiant could not serve independently given its out-and-back operational and basing structure with no overnights away from base for the flight crew,” the airlines’ application states. “These and other new nonstop city pairs will be possible only if the parties are free to coordinate closely on all transborder matters and openly discuss how to allocate resources without fear of antitrust risk.”

As part of the alliance, Allegiant Air will invest $50 million in Viva Aerobus, and Allegiant’s CEO Maurice Gallagher Jr. would likely join Viva’s board of directors.

If the antitrust immunity is not approved, however, the airlines would cancel the alliance agreement.

“Without an immunized alliance with Allegiant, Viva will continue to have enormous difficulties growing in the U.S.-Mexico leisure market,” the application states. “Viva has been approached by over 20 U.S. airports of various sizes requesting that Viva offer service to resort destinations in Mexico,” including Fresno, Sacramento, Oakland and San Bernardino in California.

Calderon said the most recent discussion between the Fresno airport and Viva Aerobus was earlier this year. “We routinely talk to all of our incumbent airlines and new airlines about new service to Fresno,” she said. “Attracting a sun-beach destination is a goal that we pitch to all international airlines, including Viva.”

While flights to Monterrey would be to the interior of Mexico, Calderon said they would provide opportunities for connecting flights to beach destinations such as Cabo San Lucas/Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s Pacific coast and Cancún on the Yucatan Peninsula’s Caribbean coast.