[SA] Mexicana Airlines to begin nonstop flights from SA to Monterrey

[sirkingwilliam]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business...a.1f4dc0a.html

Airline to begin nonstop flights from San Antonio to Monterrey, Mexico

Web Posted: 11/21/2007 07:46 PM CST

David Hendricks
Express-News business writer

Mexicana Airlines will begin daily, nonstop service between San Antonio and Monterrey, Mexico, on Dec. 2 using full-service, 100-seat Airbus A318 aircraft, the airline announced Wednesday.

"This new daily service could not come at a better time. It's just at a time when the holiday shopping period gets under way," said Marco Barros, president and chief executive for the San Antonio Tourism Council.

The new service will add competition to the existing San Antonio-Monterrey direct service offered by AeroLitoral, an affiliate of AeroMexico, which offers two direct daily flights, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, using 50-seat EJR-145 regional jets.

The Mexicana flight will begin each day with a Monterrey departure at 7 a.m., arriving in San Antonio at 8:10 a.m. The airline will depart San Antonio at 9:20 a.m., arriving at Monterrey at 10:30 a.m.

Mexicana is offering a promotional opening fare of $126 for a round-trip ticket, plus taxes, fees and surcharges. The airline this year marked its 50th anniversary of service to San Antonio.

The new flight counts as another victory for the business-government Strategic Mexico Initiative announced in San Antonio in April to increase business ties with Mexico, especially through transportation service, said Mark Webb, city aviation director.

A year ago, San Antonio had only one daily flight to Monterrey, by AeroLitoral, Webb said. Starting Dec. 2, it will have three. AeroLitoral added its second daily departure from San Antonio to Monterrey a few weeks ago.

The Airbus A318 is considered a bigger class of aircraft than regional jets. It seats 12 in first-class and 88 in coach.

Barros and city aviation officials said growing business ties between San Antonio and Monterrey and the growing number of Mexican nationals owning San Antonio homes should support the increased air service between the two cities.

The larger freight capacity of the A318 also should be popular with Mexican shoppers because they will be able to carry more purchases back to Mexico, said Barbara Prossen, assistant to the San Antonio aviation director.

Prossen also said Mexicans owning a San Antonio home often prefer a full-service aircraft when flying to Monterrey, so they choose U.S. airlines that connect to Monterrey from San Antonio through Houston and Dallas. Many may switch to Mexicana's service instead to save time, Prossen said.

The increased service between San Antonio and Monterrey also will help business travelers, especially those connected with San Antonio-based grocery chain H-E-B and its suppliers, Barros said. H-E-B operates 18 of its 28 Mexico grocery stores in Monterrey.

When the Strategic Mexico Initiative was announced last spring, one goal was to increase San Antonio's share of Mexicans visiting Texas.

Houston is the destination for 50 percent of Mexicans visiting Texas, while Dallas receives one-third of the visitors and San Antonio 16 percent.

Barros said he has heard from the two Mexican-based airlines that their additional service stems from the efforts of the San Antonio International Airport team of Webb, Prossen and José Luis Garcia, city aviation marketing manager. The trio help lead the Strategic Mexico Initiative and have "made a huge difference," Barros said.

[potts]

Seems like this service was offered on an A320 in the past. I could be wrong though. It's always nice to see new flights (especially mainline flights) at SAT. I still think someone needs to come in (cough...United Express...cough) and offer service to smaller Mexican markets like Leon/Gunajuato, Torreon, Chihuahua, etc. If done properly and with the right connections, I have no doubts that such routes would succeed.

[adtobias]

we should try more direct flights domestic first

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by adtobias

we should try more direct flights domestic first

Does it matter. More flights domestic or international at SAT is great.

[potts]

As far as domestic service goes, I think SAT could use nonstop service to JFK & BOS(JetBlue E-190), MIA (American MD-80), and SEA (Alaska and/or American B737, MD-80, respectively). YYZ on Air Canada Jazz (CRJ-900) would be nice as well.
Yet, given SA's close ties to Mexico, I would still love to see more nonstop service to Mexico. United, (which currently has a weak presence in Mexico and the southern U.S.), could use SAT as a gateway to Mexico and provide nonstop regional jet service to several mexican cities such as Leon/Gunajuato, Torreon, Chihuahua, Puerta Vallarta, Mazatlan, etc. United already serves all five of its hubs from SAT (DEN, ORD, LAX, SFO, IAD).**

**United attempted to operate a "hublet" or "minihub" at SAT in 2006 which included nonstop regional jet service to MSY, ABQ, COS, OKC, TUL, MCI, and OMA, but all flights were soon discontinued due to low loads/yields. I believe, that with the proper connection opportunities, cities like PDX, SEA, JFK, MIA, and COS, could support nonstop service to SAT with connecting service to the Mexican cities mentioned above.

Perhaps someday...

[sirkingwilliam]

I wonder why the city never decided to build a new airport further out of town and build a bigger airport with more runways that were also longer instead of investing millions to build new terminals. It's puzzling. They should/should have done like Denver and bought thousands of acres outside of the area so that they could expand however they wanted as kept growth from approaching the airport.

[texastarkus]

Originally Posted by potts

As far as domestic service goes, I think SAT could use nonstop service to JFK & BOS(JetBlue E-190), MIA (American MD-80), and SEA (Alaska and/or American B737, MD-80, respectively). YYZ on Air Canada Jazz (CRJ-900) would be nice as well.
Yet, given SA's close ties to Mexico, I would still love to see more nonstop service to Mexico. United, (which currently has a weak presence in Mexico and the southern U.S.), could use SAT as a gateway to Mexico and provide nonstop regional jet service to several mexican cities such as Leon/Gunajuato, Torreon, Chihuahua, Puerta Vallarta, Mazatlan, etc. United already serves all five of its hubs from SAT (DEN, ORD, LAX, SFO, IAD).**

.

After speaking with a former Airside Operations person, who stated "The runways at SAT are too short for any long haul routes - plus the runways cannot be lengthened because there are neighborhoods on one side and loop 410 on the other." Somewhere in this thread someone asked if it was wise to renovate the terminal while the runways/taxiways need work.
As far as a gateway to Mexico - look for Skybus from US cities to Austin and VivaAerobus from Aus into Mexico. There will be a partnership that will bring passengers from the San Antonio area to Austin.

[TXlifeguard]

Originally Posted by texastarkus

After speaking with a former Airside Operations person, who stated "The runways at SAT are too short for any long haul routes - plus the runways cannot be lengthened because there are neighborhoods on one side and loop 410 on the other." Somewhere in this thread someone asked if it was wise to renovate the terminal while the runways/taxiways need work.
As far as a gateway to Mexico - look for Skybus from US cities to Austin and VivaAerobus from Aus into Mexico. There will be a partnership that will bring passengers from the San Antonio area to Austin.

They looked into the whole airport expansion/relocation issue about a decade ago (for those of you on here old enough to buy a lottery ticket, you'd remember the discussions back then about possibly building a regional airport with austin). Both cities decided to go their own way, so here we are...

But there are a few errors posted on here. 1) The argument above about the runways being too short for long haul flights is just plane (ha) wrong. SAT lands 3 or 4 DC-10 FedEx cargo flights a day. Two weeks ago Air Force One landed there, which is a Boeing 747-200B. 2) the runways are scheduled for lengthening and upgrades here in the near future (it's somewhere on the city's website under strategic plan for the dept of aviation). I believe they are even going to add a new runway or two if I remember correctly. I seem to recall the runway expansion would only necessitate the condemnation of a stretch of Jones-Maltzberger parallel to the runway and some of the office park adjoining. With the planned expansion of Wurzbach Parkway passing to the north, it would remove most of the traffic and making the expansion feasable. The NW-SE runway (and the addition of another parallel) would be the majority of the lengthening and addition - approx 80% of the time this is the runway that is used due to our weather patterns here (rare is the wind from the NE or the SW). The NE-SW runway could also be lengthened to the NE as there is room there. Finally, there are noise abatement procedures in place that pilots must follow, and all homeowners in a certain designated area are eligible for a FAA grant to further soundproof their homes. (dont know if grant funds still exist for this - last I heard of the program was three or four years ago).

Anyway, it's feasible now, and they already have plans for expansion. Plus, I kinda like having the airport in the geographic center of town. Were so damned used to a 45 minute drive outside of a town to get to the airport, we think thats the way it is supposed to be. I like the airport a quick 10 minute ride from downtown, and knowing that no matter where you are in town you're only 20 - 25 minutes max from it.

[adtobias]

american use to fly dc10 in the 80 in san antonio

[texastarkus]

I think with the lack of runway length and summertime heat, there are weight (fuel) and passenger limits. Sure they used to land DC-10's at SAT and AUS (Mueller) but they could only take on enough fuel to fly to DFW. As for FedEx/UPS/DHL they fly heavies but they aren't fully loaded. Years ago when Braniff flew their only 747 from SAT, it was only to DFW and with the same restrictions.
It is good to hear SAT has plans to improve their runway length to better serve their passengers.