Volaris Airlines, a Mexico-based airline, in December will begin the only year-round service from Denver International Airport to Mexico City.
DIA officials delivered the announcement at a news conference Thursday where both Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock stressed the significance of the new flight in both economic tangibles and as a symbolic step.
"Mexico has, I think, the greatest single potential for trade, for tourism, for exchanges of all kinds of any country in the world for the state of Colorado," Hickenlooper said.
The total economic benefit of this new flight is estimated at $9.4 million across the state.
There will be 10 new jobs created in Denver immediately, with as many as 90 new jobs once the service reaches future projections.
Beginning Dec. 8, the flight will operate twice a week, on Saturdays and Sundays. During off-peak months ? beginning around late April or early May ? the service will be limited to once a week.
Hancock said this flight is another example of "Denver's globalization (and its) efforts to become a world-class city."
"In Mexico City, we find 22 million potential visitors to our city, to our state," he said.
DIA's current incentives plan does not contain any funds for markets that are already served, so the airport will not be offering any incentives to Volaris.
Aeromexico and United Airlines already provide flights between the two cities on a seasonal basis. Frontier, Southwest and United have been offering year-round service to some of Mexico's beach destinations.
Mexicana Airlines used to fly a Mexico City-Denver route but ceased all U.S. flights after declaring bankruptcy in Aug. 2010.
"We have positioned ourselves as Mexico's second-largest airline," said Volaris chief executive Enrique Beltranena. "There is no other low-cost carrier at the level of Volaris in the entire Latin America."
Volaris has been flying for six years and has served more than 25 million customers. Denver is the ninth U.S. market that Volaris has penetrated.
In 2010, there were about 90,000 passengers that flew between Mexico City and Denver. That number dropped to the current level of 22,000 passengers.
Mexico City currently ranks seventh for Denver international markets, but Beltranena hopes to change that. He emphasized the fact that Volaris is both low-cost and has the youngest fleet of airplanes on the continent.
"This is very important to Denver. We have the latest technology in terms of aircrafts," Beltranena said. "Our average age of the fleet is 4 years. The U.S. average age of fleet is higher than 12 years."
Hickenlooper gave an analogy of Mexico being the iconic "girl next door" ? referencing the image of Mexico as a gem waiting to be appreciated and discovered.
"(Mexico is) an economic engine and they would love to be partners with us," Hickenlooper said. "And one of the most important things (is that if) we are going to build these partnerships, ... we need transportation."
Kristen Leigh Painter: 303-954-1638, kpainter@denverpost.comor twitter.com/kristenpainter
About Volaris Airlines
Chief executive:Enrique Beltranena
Years of flight:6
Number of aircraft in fleet:37
Models: Airbus A319 and A320
Markets served:25 in Mexico, 8 in U.S.
Expected DIA revenue from airline: $280,000 annually
Expected economic impact on Colorado:$9.4 million
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