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Travelers moving through Mexico’s busiest airports are facing mounting disruption today as more than a dozen flights are cancelled and scores delayed, affecting key routes linking Mexico City with New York, Toronto, Newark and other major North American hubs on carriers including Aeroméxico, JetBlue, Viva Aerobus and United.
Widespread Disruptions Across Key Mexican Airports
Airports serving Mexico’s largest cities, including Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Cancún and Tijuana, reported a fresh wave of cancellations and delays on February 28, intensifying a week of volatile operations for both domestic and international travelers. Data compiled from airport and airline reports shows that more than a dozen flights were cancelled across the country, while well over one hundred departures and arrivals experienced significant delays.
The impact has been most visible at Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport in Guadalajara, Cancún International Airport, Mexico City’s Licenciado Benito Juárez International Airport, General Mariano Escobedo International Airport in Monterrey and General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport in Tijuana. Collectively, these hubs recorded more than twenty cancellations and more than one hundred delays, leaving terminals crowded with displaced passengers and long lines at customer service counters.
Mexican low cost carrier Viva Aerobus and full service flag carrier Aeroméxico are among the airlines most affected, with multiple cancellations and a double digit number of delayed services across their domestic and cross border networks. Regional players and foreign airlines, including United and JetBlue, are also contending with knock on scheduling problems as aircraft and crews fall out of position.
Routes to New York, Toronto and Newark Hit Hard
The ripple effects are being felt strongly on trunk routes connecting Mexico with major North American business and leisure centers. Flights between Mexico City and New York area airports, including John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International, have seen schedule changes and disruptions as Aeroméxico and United work to adjust operations in response to the broader instability across western Mexico.
Services between Mexican resorts and Canadian cities have also been affected. Routes linking Cancún and other coastal gateways with Toronto have reported delays and isolated cancellations, disrupting plans for winter sun travelers at the height of the peak season. Viva Aerobus and other carriers with strong North American leisure traffic have been forced to reroute aircraft and tweak frequencies to maintain some level of connectivity.
While the majority of flights are still operating, the uneven pattern of disruption has made planning difficult for both airlines and passengers. Travellers bound for Mexico City from New York, Toronto and Newark have been advised by carriers to monitor flight status closely and to allow additional time for connections, particularly when continuing on to secondary cities such as Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana.
Civil Unrest and Security Concerns Add to Operational Strain
The latest operational problems come in the wake of serious security incidents in Jalisco state and surrounding regions, which have already led to temporary suspensions and reductions in service to Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta earlier in the week. Civil unrest, including blocked highways and isolated attacks linked to cartel activity, prompted airlines and local authorities to place safety at the forefront, triggering schedule cuts and travel waivers.
United has issued and subsequently extended a travel waiver for customers flying to or from Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, allowing free changes for affected tickets as conditions evolve. The waiver underscores how quickly localized security events can ripple through airline networks, particularly when they involve major regional hubs that feed traffic to international routes.
Aeroméxico has been gradually restoring flights at several affected airports after earlier interruptions tied to security risks, but the carrier’s network remains under pressure. The combination of safety considerations, crew scheduling constraints and aircraft repositioning requirements has limited the speed at which full normal operations can resume, even as demand for travel to Mexican destinations remains high.
Passengers Face Long Lines, Rebookings and Overnight Stays
For travelers on the ground, the operational statistics translate into very tangible inconveniences. At airports such as Cancún, Mexico City and Guadalajara, long queues have formed at check in desks and rebooking counters as passengers seek alternative itineraries to reach the United States and Canada. Some have been forced to spend the night in airport hotels or terminal seating areas after missing onward connections to cities like New York, Toronto and Newark.
Families returning from vacations and business travelers heading to key financial centers have described crowded departure halls and limited communication as staff race to process a wave of changes. With some flights fully booked in the days ahead, rebooking options can require detours through alternative hubs or an extra night in Mexico before continuing on to final destinations.
Travel agents and corporate travel managers report spending much of the day rearranging itineraries, leveraging flexible waiver policies where available. While some passengers are opting to delay travel to western Mexico entirely, others are accepting longer routings through less affected airports in order to keep time sensitive commitments in North America.
What Travelers Should Do Now
With disruptions unfolding across multiple airports and airlines, industry experts advise that travelers with imminent plans to or through Mexico build extra flexibility into their schedules. Checking flight status repeatedly on the day of travel, confirming terminal and gate assignments and registering for airline alerts can help reduce surprises, particularly for those with tight connections onward to New York, Toronto, Newark and other busy hubs.
Passengers booked on Aeroméxico, Viva Aerobus, JetBlue and United are being urged to review current change fee and waiver policies. In cases involving travel to Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, United’s civil unrest waiver may open the door to fee free rebookings within specified dates, while other carriers may offer similar options on a case by case basis depending on the extent of disruption.
Travel planners also recommend allowing more generous connection times when building itineraries that pass through Mexican hubs in the coming days. Even where flights are not cancelled outright, rolling delays can quickly erode buffers, especially at congested airports like Mexico City and Cancún. For now, Mexico’s air network remains operational, but the latest round of cancellations and delays is a reminder of how quickly conditions can change across this critical cross border corridor.