The recent pullback in flights at Tulum International Airport was driven less by weak demand than by a commercial planning mistake in how airline incentives were structured and renewed, according to Andrés Martínez, director of the Quintana Roo Tourism Promotion Council. In remarks to The Tulum Times, Martínez said the airport’s launch was strong, but the initial incentive package expired before authorities could extend it quickly enough, prompting airlines to scale back service.
That explanation matters in Tulum because the airport was presented as a major piece of the region’s tourism and mobility strategy, especially for the southern part of Quintana Roo. Hotels, transport operators, tour companies, workers and travelers all depend on whether the airport can sustain a stable flow of routes rather than short bursts of expansion followed by retrenchment.
Martínez said the airport opened with unusually strong momentum. He pointed to the arrival of multiple international carriers at launch, including American Airlines, Delta, Copa, Avianca and JetBlue, as well as Discover service from Frankfurt. In his account, the early operation showed that airlines were willing to enter the market and that Tulum had already passed a key test: proving it could attract major carriers.
But he said the commercial structure behind that opening was not built for continuity. According to Martínez, airports typically offer airlines incentive packages when they launch service, including discounts on landing fees, passenger charges, counters and apron operations. Those incentives are meant to reduce the cost of opening new routes while airlines absorb staffing and operational expenses.
In Tulum’s case, Martínez said, the incentives were issued for one year. When they ended, he said, the airport did not manage to renew them fast enough. He described a gap of roughly six months without those benefits in place, a period during which airlines began to pull out.
For Tulum, that shifts the discussion. The central question is not only whether the airport is too far from the hotel zone or whether travelers prefer Cancún by habit. It is also whether the airport’s business terms were aligned with how airlines actually plan and price routes in a highly competitive market.
Early demand did not guarantee stability
Martínez argued that the airport may have been overtaken by the speed of its own early success. He said American Airlines opened four routes on the same day, something he described as unprecedented for that carrier at a new airport. Delta was already operating that afternoon, and additional carriers followed in quick succession, including United, JetBlue, Air Canada and WestJet.
His reading is that the airport proved its appeal but then ran into a structural problem once the first wave of incentives expired. Airlines, he said, do not adjust schedules overnight. They plan with about six months’ lead time, which means any delay in renewing support can affect route decisions well before passengers see the consequences in published schedules.
That matters for businesses in Tulum because route continuity is often more valuable than headline-grabbing launches. A hotel can market a destination around reliable airlift. A shuttle operator can build capacity around predictable arrivals. But when airlines enter and leave within a short window, the local economy absorbs the uncertainty.
Martínez said incentives have now been reinstated for three years, which he believes should have been the original framework. Still, he suggested that the market now needs time to readjust because carriers will not return immediately just because the airport has corrected the package. The planning lag remains.
Distance remains part of the equation
The airport’s location has also remained a practical obstacle for travelers and local operators. Transportation between the airport and central Tulum can be costly, especially while traffic volumes remain below the levels needed to spread those costs more efficiently across the market.
Martínez acknowledged that issue but argued it should ease over time rather than define the airport permanently. He said the Maya Train should help resolve part of the access problem, and he noted that airports are not usually located in city centers. His broader point was that transport economics depend on scale: as passenger numbers recover, service companies will have a stronger incentive to station fleets closer to the airport instead of dispatching vehicles from farther away, including Cancún.
That has direct consequences for workers and businesses in Tulum. Transfer companies, private transportation providers, car rental firms and visitors all feel the impact of long distances and underdeveloped support infrastructure. When volumes are low, prices remain harder to reduce. When volumes increase, local logistics can become more efficient.
But Martínez also cautioned that this is a medium-term process, not something that will reverse overnight. That is an important distinction for Tulum, where the airport’s recovery has often been discussed in broad expectations rather than operational timelines.
Competing with Cancún is still difficult
The comments also add to a wider debate in Quintana Roo about how Tulum airport should position itself against Cancún International Airport, which remains the dominant gateway for the region. Recently, Jesús Almaguer, former president of the hotel association covering Cancún, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres, said the Tulum airport should focus on markets more naturally aligned with destinations in the south of the state. He also said distance remains one of the airport’s main disadvantages, with many tourists still opting for Cancún.
That view does not necessarily contradict Martínez’s account. Both can be true at the same time. Access costs and route incentives are different parts of the same challenge: one affects passenger convenience on the ground, the other affects airline economics in the air.
For Tulum residents and tourism businesses, the practical issue is whether the airport can evolve from a promising launch into a durable system. A second international airport in the Mexican Caribbean is a significant asset, but only if routes remain stable enough to support jobs, investment and regional connectivity.
Martínez said that, in his view, the airport has already shown it works. He described the current moment as cyclical rather than terminal, and framed the correction of incentives as the main lever for recovery. He also noted the broader infrastructure picture, pointing to a region that now has multiple international airports and the Maya Train.
What changes from here
The next phase for Tulum airport will likely depend on whether the new three-year incentive framework can restore confidence among airlines planning future seasons. That affects more than air service announcements. It influences hotel demand forecasting, transfer pricing, staffing decisions and the credibility of Tulum as a direct-entry destination rather than an extension of Cancún.
There is also a local lesson in the way this unfolded. Major infrastructure can open with momentum and still falter if the commercial details are not built for the same horizon as the public ambition. For Tulum, that difference is no longer theoretical.
What is at stake now is whether Tulum airport can convert proven demand into sustained connectivity. The airport incentives issue will shape how quickly airlines return, how transport costs evolve and how much of the southern Caribbean market Tulum can capture going forward. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation on The Tulum Times’ social media. What should matter more in the airport’s next stage: cheaper access for travelers, stronger airline incentives, or a clearer market focus for southern Quintana Roo?
