Southwest Airlines' brand new service from Los Angeles to three Mexican cities has hit a snag less than one week since being launched.
The low-cost carrier announced flights from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Cancun, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta this past summer following the approval of a bilateral treaty between the U.S. and Mexico lifting flight restrictions.
Those flights debuted Dec. 4, with TravelPulse Editor-in-Chief Tim Wood taking part in the inaugural Southwest flight from LAX to Puerto Vallarta.
However, in an emailed statement to Wood and TravelPulse on Friday, the Dallas-based low-cost carrier confirmed that there's since been a setback.
Despite being "fully compliant with the terms of that bilateral aviation accord" and "having submitted all required regulatory paperwork to Mexican authorities more than three months ago," Southwest said it's been forced to cancel flights proactively because Mexican authorities have yet to issue required paperwork authorizing the flights in question.
"Because required paperwork still has not been issued by authorities in Mexico, we are now faced with unplanned challenges and forced to make proactive flight cancelations," the carrier said in an emailed statement to TravelPulse. "We're working to reach out well before impacted customers original departure dates to alert them to the canceled flight and accommodate them on alternative service."
According to Dallas News, the airline is working to reroute travelers dead set on getting to their final destination through some of its other international gateways in Houston, Denver and Orange County.
"All other scheduled international flights, including all Mexico service on Southwest not linked to LAX, are operating normally."
[READMORE] READ MORE: Southwest Debuts Flights From LA to Three Mexican Cities With Plenty of Fanfare [/READMORE]
Although there's no timetable on when the flights could be green-lit again, Southwest confirmed that the U.S. Department of Transportation is involved.
"We understand the U.S. Department of Transportation is actively engaged at the highest levels of its counterpart agency in Mexico to resolve the situation," said the airline.
This news comes just days after Southwest CEO Gary Kelly singled out Mexico as the airline's best opportunity to expand internationally. "Our route system is very well suited to Mexico. Our customers want to go there, and it's all lined up very well," Kelly said in a televised interview with Bloomberg.
Southwest has added a dozen international destinations to its resume over the past two years and recently launched service between the U.S. and Cuba.
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