State Of Yucatán Continues To Recover Its Air And Maritime Connectivity

MÉRIDA, Yucatán — Yucatán’s Tourism Minister, Michelle Fridman Hirsch, announced this week that the Economic and Tourism Recovery Plan of the State of Yucatán — specifically, the reestablishment airport and cruise port connectivity — has been proactive, showing concrete results with the return of 100% of U.S. flights and now the return of more cruise ships.

“Connectivity is one of the fundamental pillars of the tourist recovery of Yucatán and, therefore, hand in hand with the airlines, cruise ships, [airports operator] ASUR and our naval port, we are working hard to recover the routes we had before the pandemic and, of course, expand the offer and thus be able to reach new and better markets, increasing the number of visitors to Yucatán,” said Fridman Hirsch.

This past Saturday, June 5, saw one of most important air hubs in the world, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), connected with Mérida International Airport (MID) with the arrival of American Airlines Flight 3925, carrying 62 passengers.

American’s weekly service, a 2-hour, 40-minute flight aboard a 76-seat Embraer 175 aircraft, will operate every Saturday with an arrival time in Mérida of 1:39 p.m. and departure for Dallas at 2:25 p.m. until August 14 of this year, giving a total of 11 roundtrip flights.

American Airlines’ Director of Operations for Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Ecuador, José María Giraldo, said “American Airlines is proud to start these new routes to Dallas-Fort Worth, our main connection center, which will allow Yucatecans to connect with more than 180 destinations in the United States and 57 destinations around the world.”

Continuing with the reopening of Yucatán state, Carnival Cruise Line announced that on July 26 one of its ships will arrive at Puerto Progreso as part of the restart of operations in the North American and Caribbean region after a 16-month freeze on activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The cruise company confirmed that the Yucatecan port is one of the destinations included in its first itineraries.

It is expected that most of the passengers traveling on cruise ships under this new modality will be vaccinated and those who are not, due to age or for other reasons, will be guaranteed their safety during the crossing and the visit to the ports of call.

Governor Vila Dosal previously communicated that a large number of national and international companies, including airlines, shipping firms and receptive operators, have adopted the Certificate of Good Sanitary Practices Yucatán, as a measure to prevent and control contagions by Covid-19. This will contribute to a safe arrival of passengers, which aids the economic development of local communities while guaranteeing the health security of the population.