Alaska Airlines is re-starting service to Mexico City on August 8, 2017 after receiving final approval from the US Government. The new service brings Alaska Airlines service to Mexico City from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. As part of the Joint Venture between Delta and Aeromexico, prime slots at Mexico City Benito Juarez International Airport were forced to be sold to competition. In this case, Alaska Airlines was the winner of four slots with bids to serve three California airports. Approval from the Mexican government is expected shortly.
Details of Alaska Airlines Service to Mexico City
New service to Mexico City will begin on August 8 and will ramp up again on November 6, 2017. Alaska will first re-enter the Mexico City – Los Angeles market and begin new service between San Francisco and Mexico City the same day. Then on November 6, 2017, Alaska will start a second daily service between LAX and Mexico City. Simultaneously, Alaska will launch San Diego-Mexico city service.
All new service to Mexico City will be on Alaska Airlines B737 and E-175s. It is not clear if the E-175s will be a new Horizon or Skywest jet. As both Horizon and Skywest operate E-175s for Alaska Airlines. The E-175 will fly from San Diego and will be the second daily LAX flight this November. All other service will be on Alaska’s Boeing 737 fleet. Virgin America will not serve the route from San Francisco, but instead Alaska Airlines will.
Alaska Airlines is an well acquainted with Mexico City. The airline previously served Mexico City from 2005 to 2015, but relinquished slots in a deal with American Airlines in 2015. Since giving up the slots in Mexico City, Alaska and Virgin have merged and now Alaska wants to serve Mexico City again. As Alaska and Virgin try to become the number one West Coast carrier, Alaska is hoping to serve the frequent travelers between Mexico and California.
Alaska nonstop service from California includes Cancun, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Loreto, Los Cabos, Manzanillo, Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. Alaska began flying to Mexico in 1988 and operates 96 flights a week—more than any other U.S. carrier from California!
Route Times and Start Dates
The details of Alaska new route times are below. All times are local.
| Start Date | City pair | Departs | Arrives | Aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42955 | Los Angeles-Mexico City | 8:18 a.m. | 1:55 p.m. | B737 |
| 42955 | Mexico City-Los Angeles | 5:25 p.m. | 7:25 p.m. | B737 |
| 42955 | San Francisco-Mexico City | 9:55 a.m. | 4:20 p.m. | B737 |
| 42955 | Mexico City-San Francisco | 3:15 p.m. | 5:45 p.m. | B737 |
| 43045 | Los Angeles-Mexico City | 12:25 p.m. | 6:15 p.m. | E175 |
| 43045 | Mexico City-Los Angeles | 1:35 p.m. | 3:54 p.m. | E175 |
| 43045 | San Diego-Mexico City | 7:05 a.m. | 12:50 p.m. | E175 |
| 43045 | Mexico City-San Diego | 7:25 p.m. | 9:37 p.m. | E175 |
It appears the flights will fly in triangular routes. Los Angeles – Mexico City – San Francisco and reverse. The same appears to be true in November with the launch of the E-175. Planes will fly San Diego – Mexico City – Los Angeles and reverse. Hopefully Alaska will be able to turn their planes quickly in Mexico City! As ground time is less than an hour for the regional planes and less than 1.5 hours for the B737s.
Mexico City Prepare For Alaska Airlines!
It’s fantastic to see Alaska re-entry the Mexico City market. With ten years of experience on the LAX-MEX route, Alaska should have a good understanding of what works and does not work in Mexico. The non-redeye flights and mid-morning departures are better than previous slots the airline had in Mexico City. Who wants to leave LAX at 11pm and arrive at 5am, if they don’t have to? In addition, all routes pair with connections in San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Fran.
The new flights from San Diego will open a route with zero nonstop competition. San Fran will face more competition from United, Aeromexico and Volaris.
Tickets are now on sale for all routes.
