Summary
- Raleigh Durham continues to experience significant international growth with the addition of Aeromexico’s daily non-stop flights from Mexico City starting next July.
- Mexico City is Raleigh Durham’s third-largest unserved international market, with approximately 23,000 roundtrip passengers in the first nine months of 2023.
- Next summer’s international network will see Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air France, American, Bahamasair, Icelandair, JetBlue, and Lufthansa
Aeromexico has added its next US destination: Raleigh Durham. It is the carrier’s latest expansion to its northern neighbor, enabled by Mexico again regaining its Category 1 FAA status. It is a massive deal for Raleigh Durham, which recently saw the arrival of Air France (replacing Delta to Paris) and the launch of Icelandair last year. Lufthansa will join them in 2024. Never has the North Carolina airport had so many international airlines.
Welcome, Mexico City!
Beginning on July 1st, it will be the first time the 1,675-mile (2,696 km) airport pair will be served non-stop. Operating daily using Aeromexico Connect’s two-class, 99-seat Embraer E190-E1s, it will be among that equipment’s longest routes globally.
It is a long way for the E1, which means it will be reliant on higher fares to offset the higher seat-mile costs. Yet it will ‘only’ be Aeromexico Connect’s fourth longest E190 route next July. It is scheduled as follows, with all times local:
- Mexico City to Raleigh Durham: AM430, 09:05-15:15 (4h 10m)
- Raleigh Durham to Mexico City: AM431, 16:30-18:35 (4h 5m)
23,000 point-to-point passengers
Analyzing booking data for January-September 2023 shows that Mexico City was Raleigh Durham’s third-largest unserved international point-to-point market. It had approximately 23,000 roundtrip passengers (behind Montego Bay and Punta Cana), with about 42 passengers daily each way.
Transit passengers will also be needed, with connectivity analysis for next July suggesting that 14 Mexican destinations are available on a two-way basis, as shown below. This is based on a max four-hour wait and flying no more than 50% out of your way versus a non-stop service.
Image: GCMap
Booking data shows that the 14 cities had around 36,000 Raleigh Durham passengers in the first nine months of the year. Naturally, most people transferred to American in Dallas Fort Worth and United in Houston Intercontinental. The top three markets were Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Leon, although each was considerably smaller than Mexico City.
Big international growth
When writing in mid-November and subject to change, Raleigh Durham’s international network next summer is as follows:
- Aeromexico: daily to Mexico City (E190)
- Air Canada: triple daily to Toronto (CRJ-900)
- Air Canada: daily to Montreal (CRJ-900); returns for the season on May 1st
- Air France: three weekly to Paris CDG (787-9); started on October 30th
- American: daily to London Heathrow (777-200ER)
- Bahamasair: twice-weekly to Freeport (737-700); ends for the season on May 30th
- Icelandair: daily to Keflavik (737 MAX 8)
- JetBlue: twice-weekly to Cancun (A320, A220-300)
- Lufthansa: five-weekly to Frankfurt (A330-300); begins June 6th
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Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying
The airport plans 192,000 departing international seats next May-September (double for both ways). That is a considerable 26% above the previous record in 2023 and more than two-thirds above pre-pandemic 2019.
What other international airline or route would you like Raleigh Durham to gain? Let us know in the comments section.
Sources: Cirium, OAG, ch-aviation, booking data, US DOT T-100