While maintaining its daily flights between Houston and Mérida, United Airlines will discontinue service to three other Mexican destinations.
The Chicago-based airline will end flights to Huatulco, Mazatlán and Villahermosa, it said in an employee memo.
“While our Mexico network remains strong, customer demand on certain routes has declined and the flights are no longer financially sustainable,” the memo stated.
United will end weekly service from Houston to Huatulco starting June 23. On June 28, it will end daily flights between Houston and Villahermosa, and then pull service to Mazatlán from both Houston and Chicago on Aug. 18.
Effective Oct. 4, it will end flights between Los Angeles and Mexico City, while adding a third daily flight to Newark-Mexico City. Los Angeles-Mexico City is a highly competitive route, with United being one of seven airlines offering nonstop service.
At Newark, United is the only airline flying nonstop to Mexico City. But Aerom´xico, Delta, Interjet and Volaris all go there via nearby JFK.
United will also end weekly service between Denver and Mexico City starting June 23, leaving budget carrier Volaris as the sole option until Aeroméxico resumes seasonal service this winter, FlightGlobal indicates.
United will also cut a daily frequency between Houston and Mexico City from Aug. 20, going down to six peak daily roundtrips. It competes against Aeroméxico and Interjet on the route, while Southwest flies from Houston Hobby to Mexico City.
On Oct. 4, United will end twice daily service between Los Angeles and Leon/Guanajuato. No U.S. airline will serve the route after its departure, leaving Aeromexico, Interjet and Volaris in the market.
United will however launch daily service between Chicago O’Hare and Leon/Guanajuato on Oct. 28, becoming the only airline to fly on that route. Volaris operates from Chicago Midway to Leon/Guanajuato.
Separately, United will grow capacity on its routes from Houston to Queretaro and San Luis Potosi on Dec. 19. It will increase Queretaro to four-times-daily service, and use larger planes to San Luis Potosi. It is the only airline operating on the two routes.
Source: FlightGlobal
