The director of the Chichén Itzá International Airport, Jorge Carlos González Rodríguez, confirmed that today, Wednesday May 29, at 12:45 PM, this airport will welcome its first commercial flight ever.
It is a Boeing 737-500 charter from Quito, Ecuador, with 125 passengers that are coming to the Riviera Maya, via Chichen Itza, and is operated by “Servicio Aeroregional Regair Cia. Ltda“.
This is the first of at least ten more commercial flights scheduled for this airport during 2019. It is worth mentioning that this airport is the only one with a runway lighting using LED-type lights, based on solar energy supply, which allows to have 24-hour lighting.
According to information provided by the airport manager, this airport has been receiving between two and three private flights a day, and during certain seasons of the year, up to 20 operations have been recorded in a single day.
The air terminal has a lighting system that is based on solar energy supply, with a storage capacity of 24 hours, which allows the lighting of the airstrip throughout the night.
The operating company of the “charter” commercialized the flight as tourism for the area of the Riviera Maya, although the idea is to promote Valladolid and Chichén Itzá as tourist destinations among South American travelers.
One of the projects, explained the director of the airport, is to gradually increase the airport’s potential for tourism activities that could generate revenue for both Quintana Roo and Yucatán.
González Rodríguez said that this airport was reserved exclusively to private flights until yesterday, but it boasts all the technical and physical conditions to operate and provide service to commercial transportation, and it has now opened a new phase to higher capacity flights.
The Chichén Itzá International Airport is located in the community of Kaua, 137 kilometers (90 miles) east of Mérida, and has a privileged strategic location, since it is practically right in the middle of the road between the two most important cities in the Peninsula, Mérida, Yucatan and Cancún, Quintana Roo.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom