Aeroflot and LEVEL join the growing popularity of flights between Cancun and Europe by reopening their respective non-stop connections to Moscow, Russia, and Barcelona, Spain.
After seven years of absence, the Russian airline returned to Cancun’s International Airport operating three weekly flights on Airbus A350-900. This initial flight on November 26th arrived with 100% occupancy, bringing 325 tourists.
The State-owned airline will have to compete with both Nordwind Airlines and Azur Air, which have one flight per week and two flights per week respectively. These two companies operate with Boeing 777-200ER/-300ER aircraft. In addition to Aeroflot, the link between Moscow and Cancun will offer 1,296 seats per week.
Based on data obtained through Mexico’s Ministry of Transportation (STC), 51,592 passengers have been mobilized between Russia and Mexico between January and October 2021, with an average occupancy rate of 77.91%.
LEVEL has resumed operations between Barcelona (BCN) and Cancun with a weekly flight, following the success of LEVEL’s flights during the northern summer season. The flights will be operated by Airbus A330-200 with a capacity of 312 passengers. This first flight had an occupancy rate of 92%.
The company will operate this link until March 2022, offering 9,722 seats in these four months of operations.
During the summer season LEVEL had mobilized 7,166 passengers with an average occupancy rate of 93.74%, according to data obtained from AENA.
Cancun: European market boom
European airlines have redoubled their bet on Cancun as the main long-haul destination for the winter season. In addition to Aeroflot and LEVEL, two airlines will add other unprecedented links, such as a direct connection with Ukraine.
Before the end of this year, Cancun International Airport will have these flights from Europe:
- Amsterdam (AMS), Netherlands: KLM (4 weekly flights), TUI Fly Netherlands (one weekly flight).
- Barcelona (BCN), Spain: LEVEL (one flight per week).
- Birmingham (BHX), United Kingdom: TUI Airways (2 weekly flights).
- Brussels (BRU), Belgium: TUI fly (2 weekly flights).
- Copenhagen (CPH), Denmark: TUI fly Nordic (one flight weekly).
- Istanbul (IST), Turkey: Turkish Airlines (7 weekly flights).
- Stockholm/Arlanda (ARN), Sweden: TUI fly Nordic (one flight weekly).
- Frankfurt Am Main (FRA), Germany: Condor (7 weekly flights), Eurowings Discover (7 weekly flights).
- Kiev/Boryspil (KBP), Ukraine: Azur Air Ukraine (one flight weekly), Ukraine International Airlines (one flight weekly).
- Lisbon (LIS), Portugal: TAP Air Portugal (4 weekly flights).
- London/Gatwick (LGW), United Kingdom: British Airways (7 weekly flights), TUI Airways (3 weekly flights).
- Madrid (MAD), Spain: Air Europa (3 weekly flights), Iberojet (3 weekly flights), World2fly (2 weekly flights).
- Manchester (MAN), United Kingdom: TUI Airways (4 weekly flights).
- Milan/Malpensa (MXP), Italy: NEOS (one flight per week).
- Moscow/Sheremetyevo (SVO), Russia: Aeroflot (3 weekly flights), Nordwind (one weekly flight).
- Moscow/Vnukovo (VKO), Russia: Azur Air (2 weekly flights).
- Paris/Charles de Gaulle (CDG), France: Air France (7 weekly flights).
- Warsaw/Chopin (WAW), Poland: LOT Polish Airlines (one flight weekly).
- Vienna (VIE), Austria: Austrian Airlines (2 weekly flights).
- Zurich (ZRH), Switzerland: Edelweiss Air (3 weekly flights).
Cancun’s rebound is driven by restrictions on destinations also favored by Europeans, such as Vietnam, Thailand, India and Indonesia, which is why many tour operators have set their sights on the Caribbean.