United Airlines will drop every route to Tulum International Airport (TQO) in early January, less than three years after the brand-new facility handled its first passengers. The last flights from Newark depart January 2, with Houston ending on January 4.
The writing has been on the wall for a while. United had already axed its Chicago and Los Angeles Tulum routes, and it's far from alone: JetBlue has exited entirely, Delta has trimmed back to Atlanta-only this winter (losing Detroit and Minneapolis), and American cut Charlotte while keeping Dallas and Miami. Overall, US capacity to Tulum is down more than 50% compared with two years ago, per aviation data firm Cirium.
That's a sharp reversal from the optimism of March 2024, when Tulum's airport opened to international traffic. Airlines rushed in, drawn by the promise of skipping the two-hour drive north from Cancun International - the old, crowded workaround for reaching Mexico's boho beach town. But demand never matched the schedule builders' hopes, and carriers have been cutting ever since.
United, for its part, framed the move as routine tuning, saying it makes regular schedule adjustments based on seasonality, demand and market factors. Meanwhile, the airline is pouring resources elsewhere: two new twice-weekly transcontinental routes from San Francisco to Virginia, launching March 28 - Richmond (Thursdays and Sundays) and Norfolk (Wednesdays and Saturdays). It's the second SFO expansion announced in as many weeks, and comes ahead of a new United Club at the hub with an outdoor terrace.
Why it matters for travellers: getting to Tulum is about to get harder and pricier. If you're not near Dallas, Miami or Atlanta, expect to connect - or fall back on the Cancun route, which still offers the most flight options by a wide margin. If you've been sitting on a Tulum trip for spring, book soon or plan the Cancun transfer into your itinerary. And if you're a United flyer in the Bay Area, the flip side is genuinely useful: new nonstops to two Virginia cities that had little or no nonstop service from the West Coast.
