U.S. Flight Cuts Hit Smaller Mexico Routes

Published on Nov 14, 2025, 4:08 pm CST

9 min read

Key points

U.S. regulators have revoked 13 Mexican airline routes and banned all Felipe Angeles to U.S. passenger services
Aeromexico has ended Mexico City Felipe Angeles flights to Houston and McAllen, removing rare nonstops for border travelers
Most other affected routes were future Viva Aerobus and Volaris launches, cutting planned options from cities like Austin and Newark
Passengers now face more one stop itineraries over big U.S. and Mexican hubs instead of secondary city to capital nonstops
The cuts sit alongside but separate from the contested Delta Aeromexico joint venture order, which is currently on hold in court

Impact

Itinerary Planning: Expect more one stop routings via major hubs, especially from smaller Texas and Sun Belt cities
Airport Choice: Consider driving to larger gateways like Houston, Dallas, or San Antonio for more stable Mexico options
Carrier Strategy: Compare U.S. carriers over Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and Los Angeles against Aeromexico via Mexico City
Fare Shopping: Watch for higher prices where Mexican competitors lost nonstops and fewer seats remain in a market
Risk Management: Avoid tight self connect itineraries through Mexico City while the air services dispute remains unresolved

Travelers in smaller border and Sun Belt cities are now seeing the fine print of a U.S. Mexico aviation dispute show up on departure boards, as Aeromexico and other Mexican carriers pull back flights after Washington ruled that Mexico violated a 2015 air transport agreement. A late October order from the U.S. Department of Transportation revoked approval for 13 Mexican operated routes and banned all mixed passenger and cargo flights from Mexico City's newer Felipe Angeles International Airport to the United States, while also freezing new growth from Mexico City International Airport. On paper this looks like a slot and treaty fight, but for some travelers it has already meant the loss of rare nonstops and the return of long, hub heavy routings to reach the Mexican capital.

US Mexico air services dispute moves from policy to seats

The 2015 U.S. Mexico Air Transport Agreement was sold as a near open skies upgrade that would let airlines from both countries fly between any city pair, with fewer restrictions and more flexibility on pricing and capacity. U.S. regulators now argue that Mexico tilted that playing field in recent years, most notably by declaring Mexico City International Airport saturated, forcing freighters to move from Benito Juarez to Felipe Angeles, and allegedly favoring Mexican airlines in slot allocation at the main airport.

DOT's October 28 order, labeled 2025 10 13, is the most concrete retaliation so far. It does three big things that travelers can feel.

It cancels all combination passenger plus belly cargo services by Mexican airlines between Felipe Angeles International Airport and any point in the United States.
It revokes approval for 13 specific routes operated or proposed by Aeromexico, Volaris, and Viva Aerobus, including some that were already flying.
It freezes growth for Mexican carrier combination services between the United States and Mexico City International Airport until Mexico is judged to be back in compliance with the agreement.

For Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum has framed the U.S. move as a political overreaction and demanded talks, while Mexican airlines warn that cutting access during peak travel months will strand passengers and erode hard won connectivity gains.

Which routes actually disappeared

On the route map, the decision lands hardest at Felipe Angeles and on a handful of niche cross border city pairs. A detailed breakdown of the order and follow up reporting shows three main buckets.

Existing Aeromexico Connect routes that must be dropped

Mexico City Felipe Angeles to Houston George Bush Intercontinental
Mexico City Felipe Angeles to McAllen Miller International

Aeromexico has already ended both routes in early November, pulling its Embraer 190s off the NLU-IAH and NLU-MFE links. For McAllen in particular, this was a high load factor flight that gave the Rio Grande Valley a rare nonstop into the Mexico City area and onward connections over Aeromexico's developing Felipe Angeles mini hub.

Unlaunched but approved trunk routes

Mexico City International to Newark on Volaris
Mexico City International to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Aeromexico

These flights had been loaded into schedules or under active consideration, but the DOT order blocks them from starting under current conditions.

A wave of Viva Aerobus expansion from Felipe Angeles that is now frozen

Nine planned Viva Aerobus routes from Felipe Angeles to U.S. cities are disapproved outright, including Austin, New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Orlando. Austin's nonstop to Felipe Angeles, for example, was due to launch in late November as the only direct link between the Texas capital and the new Mexico City area airport, and is now canceled before first flight.

That matters for connectivity in two ways. First, McAllen outright loses a nonstop to the Mexico City region, so travelers there are pushed back into one stop itineraries over Houston, Dallas Fort Worth, or Mexico City International itself. Second, travelers in Austin and other affected cities lose future options for cheaper point to point service and new ways to connect into Mexico's domestic network, even if legacy carriers still provide alternatives through mainline hubs.

How travelers will feel the cuts on the ground

If you never considered flying through Felipe Angeles, it is easy to dismiss the order as niche. The reality is more nuanced.

Border city travelers lose their shortcut. For the Rio Grande Valley, the NLU-MFE link had become a convenient bridge between McAllen and the Mexican capital, with Aeromexico marketing onward connections to destinations like Cancun, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, and Veracruz. Losing that flight means going back to routings such as McAllen to Houston to Mexico City, or driving to a larger Texas hub.
Austin and secondary U.S. cities lose future competition. The blocked Viva network would have added low cost competition on routes where U.S. carriers like United, American, and Delta often dominate through Mexico City International, and where fares can be high during holiday peaks. Airlines can still add Mexico service from larger airports, but the specific Felipe Angeles links are off the table for now.
Mexico City International stays the main gateway, with constraints. The freeze on new growth for Mexican carriers at Benito Juarez protects U.S. airlines from further erosion of their slot access, but it also caps how many additional Mexican operated options can be added out of MEX while the dispute is live.

For most mainstream U.S. travelers heading to beach destinations like Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, or Los Cabos, existing flights from big hubs remain unchanged for now. The pain is concentrated on cross border business, VFR, and trade flows that rely on smaller gateways linking directly into the Mexico City system.

Interaction with the Delta Aeromexico joint venture fight

All of this is unfolding alongside the Delta Aeromexico joint venture saga, which has become a kind of second front in the same broader dispute. In September, DOT issued a final order terminating antitrust immunity for the Delta Aeromexico joint venture effective January 1 2026, arguing that Mexico's airport policies had undermined the competitive balance the JV relied on.

Delta and Aeromexico challenged the order, and a U.S. appeals court has now temporarily paused the requirement to unwind the joint venture while it reviews whether DOT overstepped. That stay means the partners can keep coordinating schedules and pricing under antitrust immunity for the moment.

The key point for travelers is that the route cuts and the JV decision are legally separate, even if they are politically linked.

The Felipe Angeles and MEX growth restrictions are live policy, and airlines have already adjusted schedules, which is why McAllen and Houston have lost specific Aeromexico flights.
The JV remains intact for now, so you can still book Delta marketed and Aeromexico operated flights on many U.S. Mexico city pairs with coordinated schedules and full mileage earning, although that could change if DOT ultimately wins in court.

Taken together, the two tracks reinforce the same message from Washington, which is that Mexican aviation policy must more fully honor the 2015 agreement's promise of equal access in and out of Mexico City.

Booking strategies while the dispute continues

While the politics play out, travelers still need to get from point A to point B. The practical strategies depend heavily on where you are starting from.

From border and smaller Texas cities

If you used Aeromexico's Felipe Angeles service from McAllen, you now need a different approach. The main options are:

Connect over Houston, Dallas Fort Worth, or other large hubs on U.S. carriers into Mexico City International or direct to resort destinations like Cancun and Los Cabos.
Consider driving to Brownsville, Harlingen, San Antonio, or Houston if you need more nonstop choices or better frequencies, especially for time sensitive trips.

The same logic applies to Austin and other mid sized Sun Belt cities whose planned Viva or Volaris flights have been frozen, even if their current U.S. carrier options remain in place.

From major U.S. hubs

If you are flying from Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, or Miami, you will mostly see this story showing up as news, not disruption, because U.S. carriers still operate dense schedules to Mexico that are unaffected by the DOT order. The main task is to keep an eye on any Aeromexico or Viva Aerobus flights touching Felipe Angeles, since those are the ones under direct restriction.

Safety and advisory context

The U.S. State Department continues to rate Mexico at Level 2, exercise increased caution, primarily due to crime, kidnapping, and terrorism concerns in certain regions, and that advisory was updated separately in August and October 2025 without any linkage to these aviation sanctions. For most travelers the immediate question is network design and schedule reliability, not an abrupt change in the underlying security assessment.

Bottom line

This round of U.S. flight cuts does not break the U.S. Mexico air corridor, but it clearly chips away at the convenience of flying directly between some smaller U.S. cities and the Mexico City area. McAllen loses a valuable nonstop, Austin and other markets lose future low cost options from Felipe Angeles, and Mexican carriers see their growth plans boxed in until regulators sort out how the 2015 agreement should work in practice.

If your trip depends on niche cross border routes, you need to recheck your itinerary and consider more robust hubs or alternate airports. If you mostly fly mainstream U.S. Mexico routes on big carriers, this is a warning shot rather than a crisis, but it is a reminder that even "open" air agreements can tighten when governments start using access as leverage.