Tulsa International Airport (TUL) hopes its first scheduled international passenger routes will take off within the next two years, outlining the potential of Mexican leisure markets.

The Oklahoma airport, named Overall Winner at the Routes Americas 2023 Awards in March, is set to break ground on a $27.5 million federal inspection services facility, designed by Selser Schaefer Architects and Corgan.

Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Pierini expects the 45,000-ft² facility to be ready in the first quarter of 2025, paving the way for international flights. At present, TUL’s existing U.S. Customs and Border Protection office can only clear private and charter flights of 20 passengers or fewer, as well as cargo services.

“I’m particularly excited about the potential of a Tulsa to Cancun nonstop,” Pierini tells Routes. “Cancun is our largest international destination, and in peak summer season, Tulsa is the fifth-largest unserved market from the U.S. to Cancun.”

TUL handled 2.9 million passengers in 2022, marking a rise of almost 25% on the previous 12 months. Traffic has now topped pre-pandemic levels for 12 consecutive months, with both leisure and business markets seeing strong growth.

“Passenger traffic to our Florida markets continues to perform very well, and our westbound markets like Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas are some of our highest load factor performers,” Pierini adds.

A key win during 2022 was American Airlines’ new route to New York La Guardia (LGA)—one of five new nonstops the carrier has launched from TUL since 2020 alongside Austin-Bergstrom, Miami, Phoenix Sky Harbor and Washington Ronald Reagan National.

To support the launch of the LGA route—TUL’s only nonstop to New York—marketing activities included lighting the Williams Tower in Tulsa with “AA NYC” the evening of the route’s announcement, as well as social media competitions and working with publications in New York to promote Tulsa.

Other recent route successes have included Southwest Airlines’ services to Austin and Chicago-Midway; Breeze Airways’ nonstop to Orlando and return to New Orleans; and Allegiant Air’s seasonal flights to Sarasota and Phoenix-Mesa.

Looking ahead, Pierini says that as well as the potential for international routes, TUL is seeking to broaden its U.S. domestic network. “Our largest unserved markets are to the San Francisco Bay area, Seattle, San Diego and Cancun—and we are actively discussing all of these markets with our airline partners as demand to each continues to grow,” he says.

“In terms of underserved markets, Los Angeles and South Florida jump off the page for us. We currently have American’s daily service to LAX, along with Allegiant twice weekly, and still over two-thirds of the market, or 130 PDEW [per day each way], is forced on a connecting itinerary.

“American also launched Saturday-only service to Miami, and it has only continued to stimulate the demand to South Florida, and we hope to see service expanded.”

Pierini says that Minneapolis is the sole destination that TUL is yet to recover since the pandemic—a market historically served by Delta Air Lines. He adds that to support the launch of new routes, the airport has created an incentive program that includes marketing incentives to landing and other fee waivers. A "year two incentive" was also introduced in 2022, where an airline will receive additional marketing dollars in the second year of service to ensure consistent awareness and utilization of the nonstop.

“What makes Tulsa so successful, outside of our airport incentives, is our incredible community partners,” Pierini says. “We have a local air service task force made up of different community organizations and business leaders who are always ready to step up and help put marketing dollars toward the build-out of successful marketing campaigns and generate awareness of our air service throughout the community.”

As the Overall Winner at the Routes Americas 2023, TUL will be a finalist at the Routes World 2023 Awards in Istanbul. Voting for the awards is now open through Aug. 11.