For Immediate Release | Official News Wire for the Travel Industry

Where press releases are breaking news

Allegiant Air to offer scheduled service to Mexico

by

Allegiant Air today filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation to offer scheduled service between the United States and Mexico.

Allegiant Air currently serves more than 450 domestic routes. This will be the company’s initial venture into scheduled international service.

“Unlike other U.S. carriers, Allegiant has always been laser-focused on leisure travel and providing access to affordable, non-stop flights for those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to go on vacation,” said Maury Gallagher, Allegiant chairman and chief executive officer. “Offering service to Mexico will provide a whole new array of options for travelers to discover world-class destinations that may have been previously out of reach.”

“We believe that providing scheduled service to Mexico will also be of great economic benefit, by stimulating traffic and providing additional competition in the international leisure market,” he continued. “It will not only bring exceptional value to travelers, but will also enhance both tourism and business impact in the communities we serve.”

The DOT application is the first step in the process for Allegiant to begin scheduled service to Mexico. Projected dates and locations for commencement of service will be announced at later dates as the process moves forward.

Travel News | eTurboNews

Volaris: Passenger demand continues to be strong

by

Volaris, a low-cost airline serving Mexico, the United States and Central America, reported their preliminary year to date traffic results.

In March 2019, capacity measured by ASMs (Available Seat Miles) increased by 13.5% vs last year, with demand measured by RPMs (Revenue Passenger Miles) showing a strong increase of 16.7%.  Volaris carried 1.8 M passengers in total (19.4% increase vs last year), with load factor increasing 2.3 pp to 86.6%.

During the month, Volaris started operations on ten domestic routes from key cities Mexico City, Chihuahua, Merida, Hermosillo and Tijuana; and launched an additional ten new domestic routes for sale linking existing cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara, Chihuahua, Monterrey, Durango and Queretaro, and two international routes: between Mexico Cityand El Salvador; and also, Guadalajara and El Salvador.

Volaris’ President and Chief Executive Officer, Enrique Beltranena, commenting on the results, said: “Passenger demand for Volaris continues to be strong.  We carried a record number of passengers for the month of March this year, despite last year´s figures including Holy week which will be in April this year.  In addition, our unit revenues continue to improve as a result of our new Plus fare launch.”

The following table summarizes Volaris traffic results for the month and year to date.

March
2019

March
2018

Variance

March

YTD 2019

March

 YTD 2018

Variance

RPMs (in millions, scheduled & charter)

Domestic

1,234

1,037

19.0%

3,386

2,902

16.7%

International

468

422

10.9%

1,358

1,253

8.4%

Total

1,702

1,459

16.7%

4,744

4,155

14.2%

ASMs (in millions, scheduled & charter)

Domestic

1,381

1,190

16.0%

3,971

3,446

15.2%

International

584

541

8.0%

1,733

1,609

7.7%

Total

1,965

1,731

13.5%

5,704

5,055

12.8%

Load Factor (in %, scheduled)

Domestic

89.4%

87.1%

   2.3 pp

85.3%

84.2%

1.1 pp

International

80.1%

78.2%

 1.9 pp

78.6%

77.9%

0.7 pp

Total

86.6%

84.3%

  2.3 pp

83.2%

82.2%

1.0 pp

Passengers (in thousands, scheduled & charter)

Domestic

1,469

1,212

21.2%

4,004

3,383

18.4%

International

329

294

11.8%

958

880

8.9%

Total

1,798

1,506

19.4%

4,962

4,263

16.4%

http://www.volaris.com

 

Travel News | eTurboNews

New LCC airline set to launch

by

“With Board approval for this exciting new airline granted just six months ago, seats going on sale so swiftly is a remarkable achievement,” said Peter Foster, President and CEO of Air Astana, who acknowledged the hard work of the many people at the airline who have played such a big part in shaping the new carrier and readying it for launch.

Inaugural domestic routes will be from Almaty International Airport to Taraz and Uralsk, with information at flyarystan.com.

FlyArystan, the brand-new Eurasian low fare airline from Kazakh flag carrier, Air Astana, is on the final countdown to the launch of services on May 1, 2019.

The new airline will be flying Airbus A320 aircraft configured with 180 economy seats on both routes.  Operating daily, FlyArystan will offer more than 130,000 seats on each of the routes annually.

“FlyArystan adds strength to what we can now call the Air Astana Group.  It enables us to effectively compete in the growing low-cost travel segment in our country on better than equal terms with other airlines. FlyArystan gives us the opportunity to grow the overall market by taking customers from other forms of travel and we are proud to be playing an important social and economic development role in Kazakhstan by creating this exciting new airline,” said Foster.

“FlyArystan presents a great opportunity for both Kazakhstan citizens and foreign visitors to travel more easily and comfortably across this vast country with lower air fares,” added Tim Jordan, the new head of FlyArystan. “With only a month to go before the launch of our first services to Taraz and Uralsk, we are delighted at the immediate strong market response and look forward to welcoming our first customers in May.”

Travel News | eTurboNews