Avianca has ruled out relaunching nonstop flights between Bogotá and Tulum, citing low demand on the route that debuted less than a year ago. Company sales lead David Alemán said the airline would not bring the service back, “not even for high season,” ending speculation of a short-term comeback.
The decision caps a brief chapter for the new Tulum airport, where Avianca launched three weekly Airbus A320 flights from Bogotá on December 10, 2024. That schedule put roughly 1,000 seats a week into the market and marked the airport’s first nonstop link to South America.
Avianca first announced a pause in late April, confirming the last Bogotá–Tulum service would operate around July 1–3, 2025. The airline framed the move as part of a network optimization to prioritize higher-demand routes. Independent aviation outlets documented the end of the route at Tulum, adding clarity to the timing and rationale.
Avianca Tulum route
Today’s confirmation that the route will not return underscores how tricky Tulum remains for international carriers beyond the strongest U.S. leisure flows. Passenger data show Tulum’s traffic surged early after opening, then slipped through mid-2025, suggesting a market still finding balance after the initial buzz. That softening matters when airlines test new international links that rely on steady point-to-point demand or strong connecting banks.
For Colombian travelers headed to the Mexican Caribbean, the practical alternative remains Cancún. Avianca continues to operate multiple weekly nonstops between Bogotá and Cancún, a far larger, proven market with deep leisure demand. Current timetables and recent flight operations confirm those services are active.
Tulum’s challenge is not unique to Avianca. In May, regional coverage noted Copa also withdrew service, another sign that secondary international links can be vulnerable when early traffic softens or schedules don’t mesh with connecting waves back at hubs. The result is a cautious reset as airlines watch how Tulum’s numbers evolve across seasons.
Context matters on the airline side, too. Avianca has been redeploying capacity into higher-yield or higher-certainty markets. This fall, the carrier announced new Bogotá–Monterrey service and continues to add North American cities that fit its simplified A320 family operation and banked connectivity in Bogotá. That strategy helps explain why marginal routes like Bogotá–Tulum fall off the map when bookings lag.
None of this means Tulum is fading. The airport crossed the one-million-passenger mark within its first year and remains a magnet for U.S. leisure demand tied to the Riviera Maya. But early growth can mask seasonality and segmentation issues. International routes must compete not only with Cancún’s gravity but also with traveler habits, package channels, and how well flight times align with long-haul connections.
What this means for travelers
If you’re flying from Colombia to the Riviera Maya, expect to route through Cancún for the foreseeable future and then continue by road or a short domestic hop. That path is well-served and tends to offer more schedule choice and pricing depth, especially around holidays. For Tulum, the lesson is patience. New airports often see a churn of early entrants before a durable network settles in, and carriers will keep testing combinations as demand patterns harden.
Avianca’s message is blunt but useful: when new markets don’t fill seats at sustainable fares, they won’t last, even with peak season ahead. For now, the airline is betting on Mexico City pairs with clearer demand profiles while watching Tulum’s trajectory from a safer distance. Whether those changes will depend on traffic stability, better feed on both ends, and proof that Tulum can support South American nonstops beyond the initial honeymoon.
