Mérida, Yucatán — Interjet begins direct flights today from Mérida to Havana, the seventh international destination from Manuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport.
The first arrival from Havana will be welcomed, when it lands at 12:30 p.m., by Gov. Rolando Zapata Bello and a contingent of state officials. A trip to the Caribbean island will take about an hour, depending on weather conditions, and cost 2,999 pesos.
Moreover, Aeroméxico announced it will link Mérida with daily direct flights to Monterrey and Guadalajara starting July 1. The airline will employ an Embraer 190 with room enough for 99 passengers. The cities are important in the world of banking and business in Mexico.
The Mérida airport is indeed growing as a viable hub for business flyers. A single terminal and two runways already connect directly to Toronto, Milan, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Belize.
Not just for executives
The president of the Business Council Tourism Yucatán (Cetur), Jorge Escalante Bolio, noted that the Interjet air route will better position Yucatán as a cultural tourist destination from Cuba, attracting visitors who come from all over the world to the Caribbean island.
“Yucatán has more advantages than disadvantages to this open trade with Cuba, since a direct flight from Havana to our city will allow a large number of tourists vacationing on the island to come to Merida … seeking cultural and gastronomic riches we have,” Escalante told Sipse.
Escalante noted that from the point of view of tourism, Mérida’s link to Havana will result in more travel packages combining fun-and-sun Caribbean leisure with cultural jaunts to Yucatán’s archaeological sites.
Interjet already flied from Havana to Cancun, and last year began a connection from Houston to Mexico City, making it United Airline’s rival for travelers seeking an alternative route from Texas to the White City.
