VivaAerobus (VB, Monterrey Mariano Escobedo) has announced plans to open a base at Merida M. Crescencio Rejon airport on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula in December 2022.
The Mexican low-cost carrier will initially base a single aircraft out of the airport, increasing to three in 2023. The dedicated capacity will allow the airline to launch two new 2x weekly routes from Mérida: to Querétaro (starting on December 16) and to León/Guanajuato (December 18).
VivaAerobus already operates out of Mérida to Guadalajara, Havana International, México City International, Monterrey Mariano Escobedo, Tuxtla Gutiérrez International, Veracruz, and Villahermosa, and has plans to add a new route from Toluca in September 2022. The carrier said it would evaluate expanding its network from the city once the base is operational.
Mérida is VivaAerobus's sixth base after Cancún (which is also located in Yucatan), México City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Tijuana. The carrier will be the first scheduled airline to establish a base at Mérida.
"Adding Mérida as our sixth base of operations will not only help us meet our growth goals, it will also boost tourism and economic development in the region. So far this year, traffic to and from Mérida has increased by 52% compared to January-July 2021, totalling more than 595,000 passengers," Chief Executive Juan Carlos Zuazua said.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows that VivaAerobus operates twenty A320-200s, twenty A320-200Ns, nine A321-200s, twelve A321-200NX, and one A321-200NX(LR).
