Triangle Hispanic community celebrates addition of direct flight from RDU to Mexico City
"I gasped, and then I sent my mom a screenshot," said Kathy del Hoyo of learning on Monday that Aeromexico plans to add a daily, nonstop flight from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to Mexico City Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX) in July.
Aeromexico is the third new airline to begin or announce international service at RDU in 2023. The inaugural Air France flight from Paris to RDU landed on Oct. 30, and Lufthansa announced in September it will launch nonstop service to Frankfurt, Germany next June. Mexico City will be RDU’s ninth international destination.
Del Hoyo is one of more than 1 million people who identify as Hispanic or Latino living in North Carolina. She and her mother often travel, she said, "for weddings for my cousins, quinceneras, to visit family."
Raleigh resident Vanessa Gonzalez-Flores said the announcement left her "super-amazed" and will ease trips to visit relatives.
That trip currently involves a flight from Charlotte, adding many hours to the trip.
"It's not just the Mexican community," del Hoyo said. "Every immigrant community can identify with wanting to go back home and visit their families, and eat the food they love, and speak the language they speak, and it's a necessity for everyone really, that can call North Carolina home and has their heart somewhere else."
Jeffrey Morgan, Aeromexico senior vice president of network planning, said the addition of a direct flight from RDU is a recognition not just of family ties but of business connections as well.
"There are very strong and growing business links between the Raleigh-Durham area and the country of Mexico," he said.
"New international routes absolutely act as a stimulus for all kinds of economic activity, boosting jobs, boosting investment, boosting tourism on both sides of the route."
The Aeromexico service will begin July 1, 2024, and operate daily out of Terminal 2.
“We are excited to welcome Aeromexico to North Carolina and provide travelers with direct access to Mexico City and Aeromexico’s extensive network of flights," said Michael Landguth, RDU president and CEO.
