Come late April or mid-May, Laredoans will be able to fly direct to Mexico City, a new offering that city leaders believe will boost quality of life and encourage economic development in the Gateway City.
Service will be provided by Aeromar, departing from Laredo three times a week. At a proclamation signing at City Hall on Tuesday, Juan Rossello, commercial director of Aeromar, said promotional fares will begin at $149 one-way.
The city has provided the airline a minimum revenue guarantee of $800,000 and pre-purchased 286 tickets for $100,100 to be banked and used by city staff and elected officials on any business trips to Mexico’s capital.
Plus, the airport has agreed to spend $150,000 in advertising for the new flight and waive 100% of landing and office fees in the first year, then 75% in the second.
Negotiations with Aeromar began two years ago and then were on pause for a while. Airport Director Jeff Miller took it up again when he came into the position in June.
Miller said they are hopeful the flight will be a success and that the city won’t have to draw down from the revenue guarantee.
The last international passenger flight out of the Laredo airport was an Aeromexico service to Monterrey in 2013. Aeromexico pulled the flight after less than a year due to low ridership.
Mayor Pete Saenz said that this time feels different. There’s more involvement from the business sector, and because of the recent uptick in violence in Nuevo Laredo, people are less likely to fly out of Quetzalcóatl International Airport right now, Saenz said.
“I think what drives this one today is a big, heavy thumb on the scale (from) the business community,” said Co-Interim City Manager Robert Eads. “Without that, it’s a more difficult lift for the general citizen.”
There’s a lot of business in Mexico City, he said, plus Aeromar connects to 18 other cities in Mexico from the Mexico City International Airport.
One of Aeromar’s selling points is its priority gate space at MEX. Travelers will be bused to Terminal 2 for direct access to immigration processing, Rossello said. Aeromar also participates in United Airline’s Mileage Plus program.
Now that they have this flight to Mexico, the City of Laredo is hoping that they can secure a pre-inspection program with Mexican customs, along the lines of what they have in place already for cargo at the airport.
That way, passengers would go through immigration before they left Laredo and could skip the line upon arriving in Mexico City.
If enacted, this process would be unique to Laredo. Although the pre-inspection cargo program is now in effect in several cities, an equivalent does not yet exist for passengers.
“We’ve gone through it and already laid the groundwork ...,” Eads said. “And having the power that we have, being the No. 1 inland port, we have a lot of abilities in Washington to sit down with individuals who I think will lend an ear.”
Eads said they hope to accomplish this in a year or so.
Below is the tentative flight schedule. Flights will leave from Laredo on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and leave from Mexico City back to Laredo on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
From Laredo to Mexico City:
Mondays: Depart Laredo at 6:40 a.m.; arrive in Mexico City at 9:20 a.m.
Wednesdays: Depart Laredo at 3:10 p.m.; arrive in Mexico City at 5:50 p.m.
Saturdays: Depart Laredo at 8:20 a.m.; arrive in Mexico City at 11 a.m.
From Mexico City to Laredo:
Sundays: Depart Mexico City at 7:20 p.m.; arrive in Laredo at 10 p.m.
Wednesdays: Depart Mexico City at 11:50 a.m.; arrive in Laredo at 2:30 p.m.
Fridays: Depart Mexico City at 7:40 p.m.; arrive in Laredo at 10:20 p.m.
Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 [email protected]
———
©2020 the Laredo Morning Times (Laredo, Texas)
Visit the Laredo Morning Times (Laredo, Texas) at www.lmtonline.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
