Debut Mexican airline already adding more Las Vegas flights

By Richard N. Velotta

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 | 7:55 p.m.

How successful do executives of Mexican discount air carrier Volaris think its new nonstop air service between Guadalajara and Las Vegas will be?

Successful enough to announce on the day of its inaugural flight that it is adding service on May 20.

The fast-growing Toluca, Mexico-based airline on Wednesday announced it would add two more round-trip flights a week between Mexico’s second-largest city and McCarran International Airport. The new flights will operate Fridays and Sundays, in addition to the daily service that began Wednesday.

Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranena, one of the passengers on the inaugural trip from Guadalajara, said three factors have contributed to the heavy bookings leading to Wednesday’s startup: high demand from Mexican leisure travelers to Las Vegas, an unusually high volume of “family and friends” travelling between Mexico and Southern Nevada and above-average bookings from Las Vegas to Guadalajara.

Beltranena could have added a fourth reason: the company’s blossoming partnership with Southwest Airlines, the busiest carrier at McCarran.

Beltranena said executives made the final decision on the additional two flights last week, but he kept it a surprise to announce at Wednesday’s first arrival ceremony.

“Our bookings show a very balanced flow of traffic from Guadalajara here and from Las Vegas to Guadalajara,” Beltranena said after a media event at McCarran’s Terminal 2 international lobby. The event included congratulatory remarks and gift presentations for Clark County Aviation Director Randall Walker, Clark County Commissioner Mary Beth Scow and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman as well as the obligatory welcome with showgirls and an Elvis Presley impersonator.

Volaris has taken advantage of the financial troubles experienced by Mexicana Airlines, which fell into bankruptcy and ceased operations last year. In addition, routes offered by Aeromexico have dwindled and US Airways pulled its Las Vegas-Mexico City service when the airline abandoned several of its Las Vegas routes over the past two years.

Beltranena said domestically, Volaris is operating with 82 percent loads, but the Las Vegas flights booked for the near future are more than 90 percent full. He said the company has flown 40 million passengers since the airline started operations five years ago.

The airline operates new twin-engine Airbus A319 and A320 jets on its Las Vegas route. The planes are configured to hold 144 passengers on the A319s and 174 on the A320s.

Beltranena said additional growth will depend on the airline’s ability to acquire more aircraft. He stopped short of promising Las Vegas flights to other Mexican destinations but said that would be reviewed before the end of the year.

Rafael Villanueva, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s director of international sales, said he’d like to see Volaris offer nonstop flights between Las Vegas and Mexico City and Cancun.

“I know that Mexico City interests them,” he said. “There’s a lot of appeal, because they are a low-fare carrier that brings in high-paying customers.”

Villanueva said Mexico delivers the third-highest number of international tourists to Las Vegas behind Canada and Great Britain. But it could be No. 2 because many Mexican visitors don’t fly directly to Las Vegas and aren’t counted as international arrivals when they come via another city.

Las Vegas is the fifth U.S. city on the Volaris route map. It also has flights to Guadalajara from San Jose and Oakland, Calif., and Chicago’s Midway Airport. The airline flies to Monterrey, Zacatecas, Morelia, Guadalajara and Toluca from Los Angeles International Airport. Guadalajara service also is planned to and from Fresno, Calif., beginning April 14.

Beltranena outlined details of Volaris’ partnership with Southwest Airlines in October.

Volaris began its “International Connect” partnership with Southwest via Los Angeles International Airport, Oakland and San Jose in the fall. Southwest, which has sold domestic tickets for Volaris on its website for several months, has since added 17 destinations, including Las Vegas and Reno.

Eventually, Beltranena said he expects Las Vegas to be a connecting point in the Southwest-Volaris partnership.

Walker said when the two airlines are ready to do that, the airport will work toward finding an easy way to connect passengers between the two airlines, probably with a shuttle system. Next year, Volaris and other international carriers will be moving into Terminal 3, which is under construction.

The just-over-three-hour Las Vegas flight leaves Guadalajara at 1 p.m., arriving in Las Vegas at 2:20 p.m. PDT. The return flight leaves McCarran at 3:50 p.m., arriving at the Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport, also known as Guadalajara International Airport, at 7 p.m. local time.

Volaris flights can be purchased on southwest.com, although not every Southwest Airlines policy is observed by its Mexican partner.

Like Southwest, Volaris has three tiers of pricing and the different tiers offer different premiums for the passenger. The least-expensive advanced-purchase round-trip flight between Las Vegas and Guadalajara cost $543 as of March 30, which includes a $21.91 tax, and restricts travelers to 55 pounds in luggage.

The middle-tier fare costs $657 and allows 110 pounds of luggage. It also includes an on-time guarantee. If the flight and all baggage don’t arrive within 30 minutes of the scheduled time, passengers can get a 50 percent refund on their tickets.

The high-end Las Vegas-Guadalajara fare costs $1,289 and allows passengers to take 175 pounds of luggage. The on-time guarantee offers a full refund if the plane is more than 30 minutes late, and the fare also entitles a passenger to carry an infant on the flight at no charge.

Wednesday’s Volaris flight marked the first of two important developments in international flights to Las Vegas within a week. On Sunday, Virgin Atlantic Airlines will debut nonstop flights twice a week between Manchester, England, and Las Vegas. That new flight will mark the first time that a foreign carrier has offered more than one transcontinental route to and from McCarran.