Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – In September 2024, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) saw a slight overall decline in passenger traffic across its 12 Mexican airports, with Puerto Vallarta International Airport among those experiencing a dip. The airport attracted 334,000 passengers, down from 352,100 during the same period last year, marking a more pronounced low season.
However, despite this decrease, Puerto Vallarta’s year-to-date numbers show resilience. In the first nine months of 2024, the airport welcomed over 5 million passengers, still slightly above 2023 figures by 0.6%.
While international traffic at Puerto Vallarta dropped by 17.3% compared to September 2023, the domestic market saw encouraging growth. Domestic passenger arrivals increased by 2.8% over the previous year, highlighting an upward trend in national travel to the region.
Puerto Vallarta remains the only major national airport in the GAP network to have maintained higher overall passenger figures than last year, though this trend may shift by year’s end.
The September decline in international travel was accompanied by a 7.8% decrease in available seats compared to the same period in 2023. Despite fewer seats, the airport’s occupancy rate rose to 81%, up from 77.8% in the previous year. A new route, Guadalajara-Toronto, launched by Flair Airlines, was the only addition to the airport’s offerings last month.
While the figures reflect a quieter period, Puerto Vallarta’s continued growth in domestic traffic and high seat occupancy signals the airport’s strong positioning to bounce back as the tourism season picks up in the coming months.
