Virgin America Adds Another Mexican Link

Virgin America is to introduce its low-fare service on another route into Mexico when it inaugurates flights between its San Francisco International Airport base and Puerto Vallarta International from December 2. The carrier will initially offer five flights per week on the route although frequencies will reduce to four a week from January 5, 2012. There has been an increase in new routes between Mexico and the US over the past year as airlines fill the void following the collapse of Mexicana. Virgin America already offers flights to Cancun from Los Angeles and to Cancun and San Jose Del Cabo from San Francisco.

The San Francisco – Puerto Vallarta route is already served by Alaska Airlines on a daily schedule and by United Airlines with a weekly rotation. An estimated 100,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year, a route that was also previously served by Mexicana prior to its demise.

"On behalf of Puerto Vallarta I would like to thank Virgin America for choosing our beautiful city as the perfect place for their new flights,” said Salvador Gonzalez Resendiz, Mayor of Puerto Vallarta. “We cannot wait to show our destination to more San Francisco visitors."

Located on the Pacific Coast where the states of Jalisco and Nayarit meet, Puerto Vallarta is one of Mexico's hottest destinations with a rich cultural tradition, a historic cobblestone downtown, family-friendly attractions and world-class resorts. In 2010, Puerto Vallarta was named one of the best Mexican vacation destinations by a respected US publication and it is estimated that over three million travellers visit annually. The area is also known as an environmental refuge, with a globally-recognised sea turtle conservation program and a variety of eco-tourism attractions.