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player ready...For the first time in more than 40 years, international flights will depart Friday from Midway Airport with service to Mexico, although the airlines offering the new service are not necessarily targeting tourists, but businesses and residents with ties to the country.
Instead of Cancun and Puerto Vallerta, Mexicana Airlines will begin flights to Guadalajara and the nearby towns of Zacatecas and Morelia. A third of Mexicans who have immigrated to Chicago come from the region, according to the Mexican Consulate in Chicago.
American Trans Air, which has made Midway its hub, will begin offering five flights a week to Guadalajara, though the airline will also offer flights to resort destinations such as Aruba, Cancun and Grand Cayman.
Ruben Zarco, who owns a West Side construction supplies company that sells to businesses in Mexico, said he knows that he will be quickly on board one of the flights to Guadalajara or Morelia.
Zarco said the decisions by Mexicana and ATA mean more time making sales in Mexico and less time on planes.
“I’m flying right now at least once a month. I fly out of O’Hare to Mexico City and transfer to Guadalajara or Morelia. When I fly out of Midway, I have to go through Texas,” Zarco said. “This change is great for me as a businessman to be able to go direct. O’Hare is too far north. It’s inconvenient. Now I will be able to fly direct and save a lot of time and money.”
It’s that sentiment in Chicago’s growing Mexican-American community that Mexicana and ATA are seeking to tap with their new flights.
Airline officials said the decision to fly out of Midway, where the last international flight departed in 1961, was an easy one.
“About half of our passengers that travel to the interior of Mexico to cities such as Guadalajara, Morelia and Zacatecas, reside closer to Midway than O’Hare,” said Fernando Flores, chairman and chief executive officer of Mexicana.
Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s largest cities, and Morelia are manufacturing centers, while the historical city of Zacatecas, is a major exporter of food and other products to the U.S.
In an attempt to lure customers to their Midway flights, the airlines have bombarded listeners to Spanish language radio in Chicago with ads about the new service.
“This is a clear indication that [Mexicana and ATA] recognize how large the market potential is in this part of the city,” said Chicago Aviation Commissioner Thomas Walker.
But the return of international service to the South Side would not have been possible without ATA and the cooperation of nearly a half dozen federal agencies whose approval was necessary before a U.S. Customs service facility could be opened at the airport.
“ATA’s interest is what made it possible,” said Walker referring to the decision by the Indianapolis-based airline to begin offering international flights and then seek changes to the new Midway terminal to accommodate the inspection facility. Under the agreement penned nearly three years ago, ATA agreed to repay the Aviation Department for the extra costs of building the facility.
Early last year, Mexicana unexpectedly told Chicago officials that it also wanted to offer international service from Midway.
Bill McKnight, ATA senior vice president, said, “We never assumed we would be by ourselves. But I was frankly surprised that Mexicana moved to Midway as quickly as they did.”
Guillermo Ohem, director of the Mexico Tourism Board, said, “It’s a great (marketing) move” because of Mexicana’s “long-standing relationships with families in those neighborhoods.”
Jennifer Jenks, a spokeswoman for Mexicana, concurred with Ohem’s appraisal. “We really feel we understand the community,” she said, noting that the airline will maintain its existing resort and business flights from O’Hare.
Alfredo Aguilera, 36, a Cicero resident who came from Morelia 14 years ago, said he flies Mexicana six times per year to visit his mother and 11 brothers and sisters in his hometown.
In the past, that required going to O’Hare for a flight to either Mexico City or Guadalajara and then taking a connecting flight or boarding a bus for the remainder of the trip.
He’s flying home March 9 and will book a flight on Mexicana out of Midway, about a 10-minute drive from his home.
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“This is a sign that Mexicana along with all the different (airline) corporations are paying attention to the Hispanic buying power, which is changing the American corporate landscape,” he said.