At the beginning of the last two months of the year, Puerto Vallarta already surpassed five and a half million passengers by air, reported the Puerto Vallarta International Airport, which is a clear sign of the notable increase in the number of international tourists on the eve of the high season.
Expectations indicate that at the end of the year the figure of 6.7 million passengers reached in 2023 will be exceeded, with a number close to 6.9 million tourists by air.
Last year, of the 6.7 million tourists who arrived by plane, 2.8 million were national and 3.9 million international travelers.
This year, from January to October, the local Airport registered 5.52 million passengers, of which 2.35 million are national and 3.17 million international, that is, 42% are domestic and 58% come from the United States and Canada, mainly.
In addition to breaking its passenger record last year, the airline also broke its record for the number of flights with 67,900 operations, a figure that is also expected to be surpassed this year.
In addition to these projections, the seat occupancy factor in relation to the number of seats offered was 86.5 percent in October 2024, while in the same period in 2023 it was 82 percent, which makes the forecasts even more encouraging.
In addition to the above, 4,440 outbound seats are offered for 2024 on the new routes from Prague with the airline World2fly and Victoria with Sunwing.
This increase will be greater in 2025 with the start of operations on the seasonal routes from Sacramento with Southwest and from Kansas City, Sacramento, St. Louis and New York with Alaska Airlines, the latter with four weekly frequencies.
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In total, this winter season there will be 14 domestic routes operating, 27 from the United States, 15 from Canada and one from Europe, for a total of 57 routes compared to 54 in the same period last year.
In line with this growth, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico – the terminal’s concessionaire – has invested 1,944 million pesos this year compared to 1,938 million pesos in total investment in 2023, which have been applied to multiple improvements.
Some of the changes include runway rehabilitations, mechanical boarding machines, rescue vehicles and equipment, electromechanical equipment, signage, baggage claim belts, electronic modules at inspection points, expansion of the commercial platform, autonomous immigration filters and a new terminal with more than double the space in buildings.
Source: tribunadelabahia
