American Airlines
, including its regional unit, American Eagle, is the largest operator between the US and Mexico by passengers, seats, flights, Mexican destinations served, routes, and more. As a colleague showed recently, American will return to Tampico next year. It last served the city 15 years ago, in 2009.
Tampico will become the oneworld member’s 27th Mexican destination from Dallas/Fort Worth and 29th overall. It comes after Veracruz was added to American’s network in June 2024, Tulum in March 2024, and Tijuana in February 2024.
¡Bienvenido de nuevo, Tampico!
On March 6, 2025, American Eagle will reintroduce service to Tampico, whose metro area has around a million people. Located in the state of Tamaulipas on the Gulf of Mexico, Envoy Air’s 66-seat Embraer E170s will operate the 636 nautical mile (1,178 km) service daily. It is scheduled as follows, with all times local:
- Dallas/Fort Worth-Tampico: AA4090, 10:10-11:17 (2h 7m block)
- Tampico-Dallas/Fort Worth: AA4090, 12:02-15:08 (2h 6m block)
(What a great retro livery!) Photo: Envoy Air
Filled just 41% of seats last time
American Eagle last served Tampico between April 2008 and January 2009—it existed for less than a year. Then, as now, it ran daily, although the smaller Envoy-operated ERJ140 was deployed, a variant that has since been withdrawn from its fleet. According to the US Department of Transportation T-100 data, it carried 9,300 roundtrip passengers and filled just 41% of seats.
Ouch. Will it be different this time? It does not help that booking data shows the Dallas-Tampico point-to-point market is tiny, with <4,500 passengers last year, although it was still the largest unserved US market. Of course, traffic will grow because of the non-stop service, although it will be disproportionately reliant on connecting passengers, who are lower-yielding.
United Express, which has served Tampico from Houston Intercontinental since 2012, carried 25,000 passengers in its first year and filled 67% of seats. In 2023, a record 46,800 passengers were transported, with an all-time high of 85% occupancy, although this does not say anything about fares and yields.
American: Dallas/Fort Worth to Mexico
The addition of Tampico means the carrier will serve 27 Mexican airports from its primary hub, as shown below. Elsewhere, Hermosillo and Tijuana are served from American’s ex-US Airways Phoenix hub, although Hermosillo had Dallas/Fort Worth flights until 2022. American Eagle began Phoenix-Tijuana earlier in 2024, becoming the Mexican airport’s only US service since 2017.
Image: GCMap
Up to 64 daily take-offs
When the first Tampico flight takes off on March 6, American will have an average of 62 daily Dallas/Fort Worth-Mexico one-way flights, although they will vary from 61 to 64 daily. One in every 14 take-offs will be to Mexico, and more than one in two for international service (61%). Flights will be up from an average of ‘just’ 52 daily in the same week in 2024 (+19%) and from 42 daily in 2019 (+48%).
Image: OAG
The week starting March 6, 2025
Let’s stick to the week when Tampico flights resume. In those seven days, American’s 27 Mexican destinations will have an average of double daily service.
The details shown below may change and may be different at other times. As such, treat it as a snapshot of activity in the specified week.
Four airports will be served at least five times daily: Cancun (eight daily A321ceo/737-800), Monterrey (six daily; E175/A319/A320), Los Cabos (five daily; A321ceo/737-800), and Mexico City (five daily; 737-800/A319).
Photo: Lukas Wunderlich | Shutterstock
Five airports will have three to four daily take-offs: Puerto Vallarta (four daily; 737-800), Chihuahua (three; E170), Guadalajara (three; 737-800), León/Guanajuato (three; 737-800/A319), and Querétaro (three; 737-800).
Double daily flights will go to Aguascalientes (E170/E175), Cozumel (737-800), Oaxaca (A319/A320), San Luis Potosí (A319), Torreón (E175), and Tulum (737-800).
Seven airports will receive daily service: Durango (E175), Huatulco (E175), Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo (E175), Mazatlán (A320), Mérida (A319), Morelia (A319), Tampico (E170), Veracruz (E175), Zacatecas (E175). Finally, a twice-weekly service will be available to Acapulco (E175), Loreto (E175), and Manzanillo (E175).