United becomes the latest US airline to cut back Tulum service

It seemingly wasn't as hot in Tulum, Mexico, as United Airlines originally expected it would be.

The Chicago-based carrier filed plans over the weekend to scrap one of its newest international routes and temporarily suspend two others, as first seen in Cirium schedules and later confirmed by a carrier spokesperson.

Specifically, United will exit the Los Angeles to Tulum market effective March 30, 2025. The airline will also suspend flights from Chicago and Newark to Tulum during the summer season.

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Newark service will resume Oct. 26, 2025, though United is still evaluating if it'll bring back Chicago to Tulum for winter 2025.

In a statement, a United spokesperson shared that "we regularly adjust our schedule for a variety of reasons, including demand and the broader needs of our network."

While cuts no doubt sting, United will increase service from Houston to Tulum to twice daily during the peak summer schedule from May 22, 2025, through Aug. 18, 2025.

All of these routes were announced just over a year ago, as the carrier joined the rush of U.S. airlines vying to land their planes at this shiny new airport that was supposed to be the long-awaited gateway directly to Tulum.

The new Tulum International Airport (TQO) was built to accommodate the increased demand for travel to this popular beach destination along Mexico's already busy Riviera Maya.

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Currently, most visitors to Tulum fly into Cancun International Airport (CUN) and then make a roughly two-hour drive via car or bus.

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Since the new Tulum airport opened last year, it has made the journey easier. But it probably also attracted just a little too much interest from U.S. airlines.

In the weeks before the airport's opening, nearly every major U.S. airline announced new service to Tulum, quickly adding the destination as their latest pin on the route map.

In United's case, the airline added service from four domestic hubs: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Newark. All of these flights took off earlier this year, but they seemingly haven't been performing up to United's expectations.

While United originally announced four nonstop routes to Tulum, it will operate just one (from Houston) this summer.

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In fact, United isn't alone in experiencing weaker-than-expected demand for Tulum. Just last month, American Airlines filed plans to cease flying from Charlotte to Tulum effective Feb. 13, 2025.

This week, JetBlue filed plans to scrap summer service from New York to Tulum.

Speaking to TPG about the new Tulum airport, Brian Znotins, American's network chief, quipped that "the whole industry getting in there all at the same time was too much capacity to absorb all at once; we need to get people more familiar with Tulum — there are plenty of people familiar with Tulum, but we had way more seats than people familiar with Tulum, so you're seeing us and the whole industry scale back and take a step back a bit."

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