A brand-new airport opened in the buzzy Mexican destination of Tulum (TQO), prompting U.S. and Canadian airlines to practically fall over themselves to add nonstop service and give travelers a way to bypass Cancún (CUN). The Tulum airport was booming. 

But almost before it began, the airlines are retreating from Tulum. 

Delta is the latest airline to cut back, dropping its Saturday seasonal service from both Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) and Detroit (DTW) – leaving only nonstops from Atlanta (ATL). Alongside many other carriers scaling back new flights to Tulum, U.S. airlines will fly 27% fewer seats down to Tulum this coming winter than they did this past year, according to data from airline analytics firm Cirium.

What's behind the change from a Tulum Boom to a Tulum Doom? 

 

Airline-by-Airline

All the U.S. airlines cut flights to Tulum for this coming year – some of them dramatically. 

Spirit Airlines cancelled their route to the airport before it ever began last year. And now American, Delta, JetBlue, and United are all pulling back their total capacity this winter. 

Here are the U.S. airline decreases by available seat miles (or ASMs), the most commonly used metric to track total airline capacity: 

  • American's 28% decrease: American cut Charlotte (CLT) to TQO, leaving only Miami (MIA) and Dallas-Fort Worth(DFW) nonstops.
  • Delta's 28% decrease: Delta cut Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) and Detroit (DTW) after just one winter, leaving just Atlanta (ATL).
  • JetBlue's 4.6% decrease: The airline reduced the frequencies from New York City (JFK), its only nonstop to Tulum
  • United's 36.5% decrease: The carrier cut Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) for this coming winter, leaving only Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) and Newark (EWR). 

Up north, Air Canada decreased 29% of its capacity to Tulum, too. Air Transat is set to run about the same number of flights, and Sunwing Airlines merged with WestJet, which took over Sunwing's Montreal (YUL)-to-Tulum route.

 

What Happened Here? 

One of two things – or maybe both: 

  • Travelers tired of Tulum as it grew in popularity and didn't fill planes the way airlines expected
  • The promise of a more convenient way to get to Tulum just didn't pan out

According to Google Maps, downtown Tulum is a 37-minute drive from the airport – and the main hotel corridor along the beach is nearly 50 minutes away from the terminal. That still beats the two-plus-hour drive from Cancún, but might have scared off some travelers.

 

Tulum Airport drive to Hotel Zone
Courtesy of Google Maps

 

Still, most U.S. travelers who don't live at a major hub still needed to take a connection to get there, whereas there are dozens of nonstop flights from the U.S. and Canada into Cancún – and, in many cases, several flights a day. For some travelers, there was a major tradeoff in convenience.

 

Could Demand Return? 

Just because airlines are bailing for next winter doesn't mean they'll be gone for good.

The Tren Maya – a train service connecting Tulum and the Tulum Airport to all of the Yucatán Peninsula – has been up and running for more than a year. But that, too, isn't quite as convenient as travelers might have hoped, with sporadic service and train stations that aren't exactly onsite. As our senior editor Jackson noted in his review of the Tren Maya, there are still more convenient and cost-effective ways to travel around the Yucatán, like affordable taxis.

So maybe the train isn't as much of a draw as officials hoped.

 

Tren Maya route map
Route map for the Maya Train, courtesy of Mexico's Ministry of Tourism

 

While I've only ever gone through CUN airport once, it was … less than pleasant. I'd still be interested in an alternative option in the Yucatán in the future, and I can't imagine I'm alone there. If nothing else, that's the main draw of flying into Tulum.

After years of uninterrupted growth and expansion, airlines are now tightening their belts as travel demand tapers off with a shaky economic outlook – and those Americans who are still traveling are increasingly looking beyond their usual spots in Mexico.

But overall travel demand could bounce back. And if it does, I'd assume flights into Tulum would come back, too.

 

Bottom Line

The Tulum (TQO) airport was so hot. Now it's not.

The brand two-year-old airport will see a 27% drop in flights this winter compared to last year, with some airlines cutting more than 30% of flights to the alternative to Cancún (CUN).