Volaris Ups Routes to US

Volaris continues to strengthen its position in the US. Next month, the Mexican carrier will serve San Jose in California from Guadalajara. Story by The Hub's sister publication, AvNews.

Mexico's low-fare airline Volaris kicks off service to San Jose, California on April 30 - its third US destination on the route map.

Volaris already serves Los Angeles and Oakland in California daily using its family of A320s and has confirmed plans to add up to four other US destinations this year. They are reportedly Phoenix, Houston, Fort Lauderdale and Chicago.

Helping its international plans, Volaris has secured a codeshare agreement with Southwest Airlines, the largest low-cost carrier in the US (based on domestic passengers), providing connectivity across the Southwest network.

The partnership allows passengers on Volaris' new nonstop into San Jose onward access to 12 domestic points on Southwest, which has a 52% share of the market (Flightbase (14-20 June 2010).

And in Los Angeles, Flightbase data highlights Southwest as the third largest operator in the US (in terms of frequencies), offering Volaris passengers a choice of 777 weekly departures and onward connectivity to 20 domestic points.

Southwest has the largest presence in Oakland (California) with a market share of 74%.

Volaris' confirmed timetable for further US expansion:

  • 2010 - United States in core Hispanic (Mexican) cities, concentrating on VFR and Leisure traffic, opportunistic national growth.
  • 2011 - United States in other cities, it will take up the topic of national growth, again.
  • 2012 - United States in other cities, possibly one or two destinations in the Caribbean.
Richard Maslen

Richard Maslen has travelled across the globe to report on developments in the aviation sector as airlines and airports have continued to evolve and…