Flight cancelled
It looks like New Mexico no longer has a "bird in the hand" as far as flights to Mexico. While the state has a couple of prospects for winged transport to Mexico "in the bush", the only airline flying directly out of Albuquerque -- Frontier Airlines -- is discontinuing its Saturday flights to Puerto Vallarta, effective June 14.
Steve Snyder, director of corporate communications for Frontier Airlines in Denver, today confirmed to the New Mexico Independendent that the Puerto Vallarta flights, which started in December, will end next month -- permanently.
When asked if the cancellation was related to Gov. Bill Richardson's promises last week to secure more Mexican flights for New Mexico, Snyder responded: "The short answer to why we discontinued this flight is fuel.
"When oil is at $120 or more a barrel, it is difficult to have the same kind of patience with a route we would have if oil was only at $80 a barrel," Snyder wrote to NMI in an email.
"We simply don't have the time to let a route grow and develop like we used to," Snyder continued. "We have looked at our entire route map, and (we) have to focus on the cities that are performing at the level we need them to."
Last week, Gov. Bill Richardson announced he had secured an agreement with the Mexican airline Aeromexico to commence flights from Albuquerque to Chihuahua City. He also announced efforts to secure additional routes to the Sonoran state cities of Hermosillo and Puerto Peñasco. Dates are not yet available for the Chihuahua flights and the Sonoran flights are merely a promise on the horizon.
In addition to struggling with oil costs, as other airlines have, Frontier is reorganizing under bankruptcy protection. The company has said its problems stem from its main credit card processor holding back substantial proceeds from ticket sales.
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