Getting There: Via Volaris

Written By: Madeline Rosene

During LEFAIR Magazine’s trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, we were delighted to discover Volaris Airlines. The airline launched in 2006 and has since become a pioneer of more than 30 routes between the United States and Mexico. Because the Mexican community is growing more than ever within the United States, it’s no wonder that Volaris Airlines is such a success, generating $1.31 Billion USD in total operating revenue in 2017. The primary passengers on Volaris are families visiting relatives in Mexico and the second demographic are tourists flying from the United States to visit Mexico. Volaris continues to encourage tourism by creating new routes. 

Volaris began with 72 routes for the Mexican community and tourists to explore other parts of Mexico. However, after just three years, in 2009, Volaris opened routes from Los Angeles (LAX) to Toluca, Mexico City, and Guadalajara. Both Mexico destinations were thought to be popular for tourists from the US due to their rich traditional Mexican culture— Mariachi, tequila, soccer, and gastronomy.

According to Director of Market Development, Miguel Aguiñiga, Volaris Airlines prides itself on its value, unparalleled customer service, and most importantly, attention to safety. With the number of recent freak airline accidents, when it comes to peak travel time, airline safety is a trending topic. On April 17, a Southwest Airlines passenger died after being partially sucked out of a plane. On May 2, Southwest Airline pilots were forced to make an “unscheduled stop” after takeoff due to a cracked window. Southwest cancelled dozens of flights for safety inspections. According to Aguiñiga, Volaris boasts brand new Airbus 320s and 321s.

“We have new airplanes and our regularly scheduled performance and maintenance operations are very smooth.”

The current fleet is comprised of 72 airplanes with an average age of just four and a half years old. However, as their number of flight paths grow, so does the Volaris fleet. The company recently placed an order for 80 more aircrafts to be added between 2022 and 2026 to keep up with the growing number of passengers and routes. Since 2009, Miguel Aguiñiga has lead the opening of new international markets for Volaris.

With 18 years of experience in the aviation industry, his specialties are transforming prospect areas into Volaris markets and negotiation with travel agencies, companies and foreign governments. Thanks to Aguiñiga, Volaris is expanding rapidly, currently flying out of 25 cities. Three years ago, Volaris Costa Rica was born. This opened routes that connected the United States to countries throughout Central America— El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, etc… Aguiñiga is passionate about opening new routes for tourists to explore. In fact, Volaris is the first and only airlines to fly from the United States to Uruapan, Mexico.

“We just opened a new route between Washington and El Salvador. You can fly out of Washington or out of LA and the flight arrives in El Salvador but if you want to continue to Costa Rica, you stay in the plane and it’s only another forty-five minute flight. It is a very convenient flight to visit Costa Rica,” Aguiñiga said.

Passengers fly Volaris because of its dependability and simplicity. As a point to point airline, almost all Volaris flights are direct flights. To date, more than 85 million passengers have flown Volaris, a large percent of that number occurring in 2017 with 16.4 million passengers.