Tulum’s new airport is a contemporary, intriguing and imperfect choice for vacationers. Right here’s what it’s like

Preliminary response

From the entry highway into the airport to the constructing to the terminal, taxiways and runways, all the things is new. It is clear, contemporary and fewer overwhelming than the older and better-known Cancun Worldwide Airport (CUN).

Total, it is a attractive house with excessive ceilings, intelligent creative touches and loads of nods to the fantastic thing about the encircling Riviera Maya.

Pure mild floods into the terminal with floor-to-ceiling home windows, illuminating the spacious ticketing space and permitting visitors loads of views of the ever-increasing variety of plane coming and going.

Each day Publication

Reward your inbox with the TPG Each day publication

Be a part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s consultants

Nonetheless, readers must be conscious it’s missing some facilities proper now: The Wi-Fi and air con had been lackluster on day one in all worldwide flights, and it has little in the way in which of concessions in the mean time.

Total, although, it is a formidable new choice for vacationers.

Here is what we discovered arriving and departing on the primary day of worldwide service at Tulum’s new airport.

What vacationers can count on on a visit to TQO

The place is the brand new Tulum airport?

Once more, the brand new Tulum airport is not precisely in Tulum.

It is about 20 miles from the middle of city — and it is a bit farther from lots of the well-liked resorts within the space.

One employee TPG spoke with at Tropical Elite Journey, a neighborhood transportation firm, was fast to notice the airport is greater than a “stone’s throw” from a number of the area’s better-known resorts north of Tulum. That is one thing for vacationers to remember as they plan journeys.

For some extra context, the airport is near 100 miles south of Cancun. Playa del Carmen is true in between these two locations alongside the coast.

Attending to and from the brand new Tulum airport

Departing the brand new Tulum airport

Passengers enter the brand-new terminal by means of any of the 4 ground-level doorways.

Total, it is a a lot quieter really feel as you enter the airport. In case you can image the honking horns, police sirens and general bustle and chaos frequent at busy airports’ drop-off curbs, that is removed from that.

It is also a far cry from Cancun’s a lot busier airport, which sees tens of millions of passengers yearly (almost 4.8 million from the U.S. alone in 2023) and plane arriving from everywhere in the world.

Aside from the occasional noise of a jet taking off, it sounds (and indirectly feels) extra such as you’re in a public park than exterior a busy airport.

Floor flooring

Inside, on the bottom flooring (which is technically the arrivals degree), there are presently just a few retailers, rental automotive firm places of work, taxi stands and bus line places of work.

That is the place you will find yourself after baggage declare (extra on that in a bit).

Throughout, you can hear the sounds of development, making clear that components of the airport (most notably the foods and drinks institutions) stay a piece in progress.

Ticketing space

A number of escalators, elevators and stairs take you as much as the ticketing space, which is spacious and ethereal — and simply probably the most spectacular a part of the constructing.

Daylight pours in by means of a translucent roof. There are two giant islands the place airways have arrange their check-in and bag drop stations.

American, Delta and United every have a row of check-in counters with loads of house. On the opening day of U.S. flights, there have been balloons and treats to honor the inaugural flights.

United added its personal check-in counters with some modest decor when it launched service Sunday.

JetBlue plans to launch service to Tulum within the coming months. So do Air Canada and Panama-based Copa Airways.

Safety

The safety space was properly staffed and took only a few minutes to get by means of.

Since Tulum is a a lot smaller airport than Cancun, you’ll be able to doubtless count on smaller crowds — significantly till airways totally scale up their flight schedules out of the airport.

For Clint’s departure on Delta’s inaugural flight, two officers checked his passport and boarding move earlier than he was allowed to scan his ticket at automated gates.

At safety, officers requested passengers to take away belts and watches so that they may very well be put by means of the X-ray machines. Different gadgets, like laptops and Kindles, needed to be eliminated and put right into a separate bin for scanning.

Airside

The departures concourse is one straight hallway. In case you go neglected of safety, you will discover gates for home Mexico flights — no less than proper now.

In case you go proper, you will discover the gates for flights departing to U.S. locations.

In all, the airport has 13 plane parking positions. There are solely 4 true gates within the concourse itself, however some gates result in a number of jet bridges. So, you can find yourself departing from a “D3A” or a “D3B.”

Aesthetically, the attractive ceilings had loads of lighting, with Mayan-inspired wooden sculptures making a dramatic affect.

This airport’s floor-to-ceiling home windows will doubtless encourage AvGeeks with killer views of plane taking off and touchdown.

Departing passengers will discover wide-open areas, loads of seating, and sporadic plugs and retailers. Like most airport terminals, when flights begin boarding, passengers congregate within the concourse a bit. Nonetheless, usually talking, it is a pretty spacious concourse. That will probably be much more true as soon as development totally wraps up and there are extra locations to eat, drink and sit.

Marble flooring and excessive ceilings give the terminal a high-gloss look.

These gates quantity D1 by means of D4.

The gates gave the impression to be usually interchangeable, “frequent use” gates. So, you would possibly see a Delta jet depart from a gate at one level within the day after which an American airplane at that gate later within the day.

On day one in all worldwide flight operations, American Airways embellished its gates with balloons and signage to mark the event.

Tulum makes use of automated gates that allow you to scan your boarding move, however proper now, gate brokers nonetheless appear to be checking passports previous to departure.

Because it was the primary day of worldwide flights to Tulum, the flights had been much more packed arriving than departing, so the concourse was pretty empty. That can doubtless change within the coming months as U.S. and different worldwide airways add extra service.

On this present day, nonetheless, Delta’s inaugural outbound flight was calmly booked, with one employee saying there have been 120 empty seats on the Boeing 737-800 — reminiscent of how empty planes had been flying through the worst of the pandemic.

Facilities on the new Tulum airport

As talked about, although U.S. airways solely simply launched service to Tulum, the airport has technically been open for about 4 months.

Nonetheless, it is pretty bare-bones in relation to facilities — no less than proper now.

That is very true relating to foods and drinks choices.

Foods and drinks

Laborious-hat areas make it clear that extra retailers and eating places — together with large chains and native spots — are on the way in which.

Ultimately, extra eating places will probably be accessible, together with some that will probably be acquainted to People. TPG noticed “proximamente” (“quickly”) indicators for all the things from Starbucks to Firehouse Subs to Le Ache Quotidien to Burger King to Applebee’s.

It is a comparable story landside, the place we noticed indicators for well-known retailers like Starbucks and Domino’s, together with some extra domestically impressed foods and drinks institutions.

Proper now, although, be warned: Meals choices are sparse, with only a few small concession stands — assume snack bars, not eating places.

Till extra locations open, vacationers can count on little greater than bodega-like institutions promoting chilly water, sodas and bagged snacks like potato chips.

This could get lots higher within the coming months. In truth, there are already tables in place for what seems to be a budding meals courtroom.

In the mean time, a key piece of recommendation in the event you’re headed to the airport: Do not arrive hungry.

Purchasing

Satirically, regardless of the concourse being devoid of sustenance, there’s already a duty-free store up and working instantly post-security. Distributors wasted no time promoting merchandise like cologne, make-up and booze to vacationers heading dwelling from trip.

Is there a lounge on the new Tulum airport?

Among the many “coming quickly” areas is a Sala VIP membership. A employee there stated it could be opening in just a few weeks.

Arriving on the new Tulum airport

How costly is it to fly to Tulum?

For the foreseeable future, U.S. airways will function far fewer flights to Tulum than Cancun. That is partially as a result of airways are simply getting operations off the bottom. Additionally, Tulum is, fairly merely, a a lot smaller airport.

Because of the forces of provide and demand, that can make for dearer airfare to the newer Yucatan Peninsula airport.

Between now and the top of September, the common round-trip airfare to Cancun is round $364 (or $433 if you wish to e-book a nonstop flight), in line with reserving app Hopper.

For Tulum, round-trip costs sit round $437 — about 20% larger — or $455 for a nonstop flight.

What US airways fly to Tulum?

From the outset, the “Massive Three” legacy U.S. airways are providing service to Tulum. A fourth service is coming quickly.

Backside line

The brand-new Felipe Carrillo Puerto Worldwide Airport is a ravishing airport that’s value contemplating in your subsequent journey to the Yucatan Peninsula.

The airport is not as shut as visitors visiting Tulum, Riviera Maya and Playa del Carmen resorts would possibly hope.

Nevertheless, it could nonetheless be a extra handy choice than Cancun Worldwide Airport for guests to some resort cities within the space.

It is also lots much less crowded and chaotic than the Cancun airport and would not have (to date) as lots of the aggressive salespeople making an attempt to get you to lease a automotive, purchase a timeshare or hail a cab.

Except you are touring to a resort in Cancun itself, or in any other case visiting the northern reaches of Mexico’s Caribbean coast, it might be value contemplating TQO over Cancun — even when it’s a must to pay a bit extra to fly out and in of this airport.

That stated, the airport has rising pains. The air con is spotty, the Wi-Fi is not presently working, and there are only a few retailers and eating places proper now. Oh, and there’s no lounge as of writing.

Keep tuned as TPG screens how the airport performs as crowds and flight choices develop within the coming months.

Associated studying: