New Year, new routes. For Cancún, that means no fewer than 17 new flights for 2026, connecting Mexico’s Caribbean coast to cities in the United States, Canada and even Ireland, along with an additional domestic route to and from Saltillo, Coahuila.
Of the 17 international routes launching through June 2026, 11 will connect to U.S. cities, five to Canadian cities, and one to Dublin, marking the first non-stop flight between Cancún and Ireland.
“We will continue to promote connectivity so that the Mexican Caribbean remains a world leader in tourism, said Mara Lezama, governor of Quintana Roo, Cancún’s state, in an announcement. “The transformation is moving forward.”
The confirmed routes include Oklahoma City–Cancún, operated by American Airlines from Dec. 6 to April 4; Toronto–Cancún and Hamilton–Cancun, operated by Porter Airlines since Dec. 12; and one from Cozumel to Calgary with WestJet from Dec. 20 until April 11.
As of Jan. 6, Aer Lingus will start operating the route to Dublin.
Breeze Airways will launch its Cancún–Charleston and Cancún–Norfolk routes this month, and its Cancún–New Orleans and Cancún–Providence routes in February.
Air Transat will connect Cancún with Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and Fredericton, New Brunswick, both starting in February, while Southwest will inaugurate its Las Vegas–Cancún route on June 4. Sun Country Airlines will operate the Tulsa–Cancún route starting May 21, while Frontier Airlines will launch its Charlotte–Cancún, Chicago Midway–Cancún, and Raleigh-Durham–Cancún routes in March.
The Saltillo-Cancún national route will be operated by Viva Aerobus starting March 29.
Lezama noted that each new air connection represents more visitors, more jobs, and greater well-being for Quintana Roo families, and reiterated that she will continue working to ensure that shared prosperity reaches everyone in the state.
While Cancún International Airport remains one of Mexico’s busiest airports, it didn’t perform as expected in 2025. Francisco Madrid Flores, head of the Center for Advanced Research in Sustainable Tourism (STARC) at Anáhuac University Cancún, said that the year showed irregular behavior, especially in the international market, due to “a lack of a sufficient supply of seats on routes to the Caribbean.”
However, the industry is beginning to show a sustained recovery with encouraging projections for 2026, in part due to the new announced routes, Madrid said.
With reports from EFE
