JetBlue Is Launching a Big Expansion to Cancun

No destination in the wider Caribbean is seeing more interest from airlines right now than Cancun. 

Since the Mexican Caribbean’s tourism reopening in the early summer, Cancun International Airport continues to draw new routes from a host of carriers — and now JetBlue is launching an expansion of its own. 

In March, JetBlue will be launching four new routes to Cancun, with new service from Austin, Nashville, Los Vegas and Sacramento. 

All of the routes will be operating three times each week, according to JetBlue. 

“This year has pushed us to find new ways of operating our business and we’ve adapted at a pace we’ve never seen before, pivoting our network in response to changing customer demand,” said Scott Laurence, head of revenue and planning, JetBlue. “We’re continuing to play offense to bring in cash revenue and support our business recovery. These network additions help fine-tune our geography in ways that make sense in today’s market.”

The JetBlue announcement comes as more carriers look to capitalize on Cancun’s strong travel demand amid the pandemic, from Frontier’s just-announced route from Miami to Cancun to United’s broad expansion to Cancun from cities like Newark, Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

It’s not a surprise given Cancun’s broad tourism reopening, one that kicked off in June and remains arguably the most complete travel relaunch in the wider region. 

Indeed, last month Cancun International Airport reported passenger traffic of 1.663 million last month. 

While that was just 39 percent of the same period in 2019, it was more passengers than any other airport in the wider Caribbean. 

— CJ