On the eve of the 2023/24 North American winter season, five airlines from the United States and Canada scheduled their largest aircraft to fly to Cancún (CUN), one of the favorite holiday destinations for American and Canadian tourists.
Although wide-body aircraft are typically used on long-haul routes, growing demand and business opportunities allow for the full capacity of these aircraft to be utilized on shorter routes. This strategy has the advantage of not having to sacrifice slots at congested origin airports, which would otherwise require the addition of three or two new daily operations.
So far in 2023, Canada and the United States account for the largest international passenger movements by air in Mexico, with over 10 and 27 million travelers respectively, according to data from Mexico’s Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC).
Canada: Three Airlines at Full Capacity
In the case of Canada, this season marked the entry of Lynx Air into Mexico, becoming the eighth Canadian airline to operate in Cancún. This underlines the importance of Cancún as a holiday destination for Canada.
The three main Canadian airlines have scheduled their largest capacity aircraft from their main bases:
- Air Canada, a daily flight from:
- Toronto/Pearson (YYZ) with Airbus A330-300, Boeing 777-300 (ER), and Boeing 787-9.
- Montreal/Trudeau (YUL) with Airbus A330-300, Boeing 777-300 (ER) and Boeing 787-9.
- Vancouver (YVR) with Boeing 787-9.
- Air Transat, ten weekly flights from:
- Montreal/Trudeau (YUL) with Airbus A330-200 and -300.
- Toronto/Pearson (YYZ) with Airbus A330-200.
- WestJet, a daily flight from:
- Calgary (YYC) with Boeing 787-9.
- Toronto/Pearson (YYZ) with Boeing 787-9.
- Vancouver (YVR) with Boeing 787-9.
In addition, the airlines maintain their daily operations with Boeing 737, Airbus A320, and A321 at the same bases.
American Airlines Follow Suit
American airlines, in turn, are also joining this trend and will offer daily flights from various bases, using wide-body aircraft:
- American Airlines, with flights from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) using Boeing 787-8, 787-9, and Boeing 777-200 (ER).
- United Airlines, from Denver (DEN), Houston (IAH), and Chicago/O’Hare (ORD) with Boeing 777-200.
While the strategy of using larger capacity aircraft on shorter routes is not new in the industry, it has become increasingly common in vacation destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Europe.
In the Caribbean, Air Transat and Air Canada have also scheduled wide-body flights to specific destinations in key months; such as Punta Cana and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, Kingston and Montego Bay in Jamaica, Santa Clara in Cuba, and Bridgetown (Barbados) in Barbados.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Asian airlines have adopted this practice, operating short or medium-range flights throughout the year with wide-body aircraft. Airbus, for instance, has introduced a regional version of the Airbus A330-300 designed to perform better in these markets.
