Seattle getting flight to Mexico City (finally)

Seattle has been the largest U.S. or Canadian city without a nonstop flight to Mexico City. Until now.

Aeromexico this week said it would launch daily flights to Mexico City and on to Guadalajara. The daytime service is a big boost to businesses that operate in the area, saving travelers time and potential delay.

The additional flight is the latest since the Port of Seattle lowered fees to attract routes to Sea-Tac to better compete with Portland and Vancouver. (As a non-hub, the Seattle metro area has been the largest without a direct Mexico City connection.)

Who loses? Probably Alaska Airlines, which faces higher fuel costs and more competion. Today it said its bottom line worsened from a year ago and vowed to "do whatever it takes" to hold onto its dominant share of the West Coast market. Aeromexico's addition eats into a market Alaska has been slowly building.

Comments

[brian]

In a quick search I could not find direct flights from Columbus, OH or Milwaukee, WI to Mexico City. Both are larger than Seattle.

[brad]

The post refers to metro areas (airlines don't fly to the city of Seattle). Seattle metro ranked 12th in U.S. population in 2005 at 3.8 million, smaller than Atlanta but bigger than Minneapolis. (Columbus ranked 24th and Milwaukee 26th, by the way.)