Philadelphia International Airport will resume nonstop flights to Mexico City in June for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, citing a significant increase in travel to Mexican destinations in recent years.
The airport said Tuesday it has reached an agreement with Aeroméxico to offer year-round, daily nonstop service from Philly to Mexico City. Direct flights to Mexico City were last available out of the airport in January 2019. They will resume June 5.
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"Prior to this announcement, anyone needing to travel to Mexico City had to start their journey at another airport or have a layover along the way," airport CEO Atif Saeed said.
Regional demand for flights to Mexico has been rising. Since 2014, air traffic from Philadelphia to destinations in Mexico has increased by 8.3% annually. Airport officials said there has been a 50% increase in air traffic from Philly to Mexico since since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Mexico City and vacation hotspot Cancun are among the most popular destinations for flights departing the United States. In the Philadelphia region, increased demand for flights has been driven by a population of more than 187,000 people of Mexican ancestry in the area looking for convenient travel between the countries.
Last fall, the U.S. Department of State updated its travel advisory for Mexico with warnings about high levels of crime in a number of destinations. Mexico City was included among those where the state department urged increased caution among travelers.