Travelers to Mexico's Pacific Coast have more fight options this week, with the introduction of new, non-stop service between Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta on Volaris, a Mexican airline.
The flights, which commenced Friday, will be operated weekly for at least 40 weeks, according to the Vallarta Daily. Pending demand, however, the airline hopes to make the flight permanent.
"We want the flights to last; we do not open temporary flights, we open them to leave them...we want people to travel, and travel well to Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit or to Los Angeles," said Miguel Ángel Aguiñiga, the director of Market Distribution and Development for Volaris in a statement at Vallarta Daily. "Flying from the United States is a great challenge that we love, so we expanded our portfolio of routes and added to the tourist and business exchange between both regions."
The flight represents more than 5,500 new seats for the region in a year when Mexico has seen explosive growth in airline capacity. While the flight offers new opportunities for Mexican nationals to reconnect with loved ones who live in Los Angeles, it is expected to be a feeder for Puerto Vallarta's tourism industry.
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For the inaugural flight, which had 144 people on board, some 70 percent of the passengers were of non-Mexican origin, with travelers hailing from as far away as England, France and even the Middle East.
Upon landing Puerto Vallarta, customers and crew were welcomed to Puerto Vallarta with a special party featuring live mariachi music and signature cocktails from the region.
Puerto Vallarta itself is in the midst of a tourism infrastructure overhaul. The city will soon welcome a brand new cruise port and a notable new attraction-the largest aquarium in Mexico. In August, tourism officials announced the city was on pace to welcome a record number of visitors for the year. For the months spanning January through June, the city's occupancy rates averaged around 90 percent. More than 1.8 million people passed through the city's international airport during that same period.
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