U.S. airlines continue to pull back from serving Tulum International Airport in Mexico as demand lags, with travelers still favoring the Cancún International Airport as their gateway to the country's Caribbean beaches.

The airport opened to passengers on Dec. 1, 2023, and after an initial surge in flights, it has steadily seen airlines pull down capacity since then. Heading into spring break this year, airlines were flying fewer seats than in the previous spring, and the downward trend continues.

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, and United Airlines will still to serve Tulum, but with thousands fewer seats over the course of this winter compared to winter 2024-2025.

Data from Cirium, an aviation data analytics company, shows that all airlines are planning to fly fewer seats to Tulum in the months ahead.

In Dec. 2024, for example, U.S. airlines had the capacity to send 41,503 passengers to Tulum with flights from various gateways. In Dec. 2025, the combined U.S. airline capacity to Tulum is planned to be just 29,511 seats. United Airlines, which will have flights to Tulum from both Newark and Houston this winter, is the only U.S. carrier planning to send more than 10,000 seats to Tulum in the coming months.

This kind of pulling back isn't unusual as airlines adjust to actual demand at a new airport, but carriers cutting capacity is not a promising sign for the airport's popularity.

"Airlines will first guess the demand for flights based on the data tools at their disposal, offer a schedule for sale to test their hypothesis, review the results, and add or pare as they see fit to ensure they are at least covering their trip costs, and the opportunity cost of deploying aircraft, crew, and fuel," Mike Arnot, a spokesperson for Cirium, previously told USA TODAY. "Many low-cost airlines are quick to test and reduce flying from a market or exit altogether. Larger carriers will be more conservative."

Airlines like Delta and American have reduced the number of cities with direct flights to Tulum. Spirit Airlines, amid its financial difficulties and relatively soft demand, pulled out of the airport before even beginning its promised service at all.

It's always possible the airport could make a passenger popularity rebound as traveler demand shifts over time, but for now, it seems likely Tulum will continue playing second fiddle to its neighbor up the road.

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Almost 2 years in, US airlines are scaling back service to Tulum's airport

Reporting by Zach Wichter, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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