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Volaris to add Phoenix-Mexico flights By Dawn Gilbertson and Amy B Wang The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Jun 25, 2013 6:59 PM Volaris, Mexico’s largest low-cost airline, plans to start service from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, city officials announced Tuesday. Beginning this fall, Volaris will fly non-stop three times per week to Mexico City and Guadalajara from Sky Harbor’s Terminal 4, the airport's largest terminal. Exact days and times of the flights remain undecided. Volaris’ presence at Sky Harbor should bolster economic and cultural ties between Mexico and Arizona, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said. He cited a recent study by Arizona State University that said the average passenger from Mexico to Phoenix spends about $1,700 in the Valley. “That’s $200,000 every time a flight lands,” Stanton said. “It’s a great, great day for the city of Phoenix.” Stanton and other city officials first met with Volaris executives to discuss possible service at Sky Harbor during several trade missions to Mexico City. “They didn’t come to us,” Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos said. “We went to them.” Cavazos said he visited Volaris’ headquarters in Mexico City in August. To his surprise, he found an office with unfinished ceilings, lockers, yoga balls as chairs and no printers. Volaris officials explained to Cavazos that the lockers allowed employees to store personal items and rotate between work stations freely. The yoga balls were not meant to straighten postures so much as to keep meetings as short as possible. Cavazos remembers coming away from the visit smitten with Volaris’ business philosophy. “That’s why this airline is going to be successful,” Cavazos said. “They put everything into the service ... but they do it in a way that is so efficient. That’s the kind of business we need in Phoenix, so we can learn from them, too.” Including Volaris, Sky Harbor will be home to 14 airlines. Four are foreign carriers: Aeromexico, Air Canada, British Airways and WestJet. The airport offers non-stop flights to 20 international cities. It is unclear whether Volaris plans to add destinations from Phoenix. The airline also flies to about two dozen other cities in Mexico. “We hope this will be the first of many cities the airline will serve between Phoenix and Mexico,” Aviation Director Danny Murphy said. Volaris was founded in 2003 and had its first flight in 2006, from Toluca to Tijuana. The airline currently offers flights to Mexico from San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno and San Jose in California, as well as Denver, Las Vegas, Chicago and Orlando. The newest cities in that mix are Denver, Orlando and Sacramento, according to the airline’s website, volaris.mx. Volaris serves Mexico City from Denver, a route that began in December. From Las Vegas, Volaris has flights to Mexico City and Guadalajara. In Phoenix, Volaris’ main competition likely will be Tempe-based US Airways, which offers non-stop flights to several Mexican destinations. Volaris had a partnership with Southwest Airlines, but that ended earlier this year because Southwest’s international expansion strategy is now focused on AirTran Airways, which it acquired two years ago. Earlier this month, Volaris filed documents for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Volaris has strong Phoenix ties. Indigo Partners LLC, one of Volaris’ investors, is a Phoenix investment firm headed by veteran business executive Bill Franke. He served as chairman and CEO of America West Airlines from 1993 to 2001, when Doug Parker succeeded him. Franke and his son Brian have been on Volaris’ board since 2010. Investment funds managed by Indigo own 19.5percent of one class of Volaris stock and 5.15percent of another class of stock, according to securities filings for its planned initial public offering. The firm is selling some of its shares in the offering. Indigo also owns a stake in Spirit Airlines, where Bill Franke is chairman of the board. |