Apple to Offer Cancun Nonstops

Apple Vacations is planning to fill a void in the West Coast market with new nonstop charters on Alaska Airlines from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Cancun starting in 2009. Apple Vacations has not operated charters from the West Coast to Cancun since it ran shared charters from Los Angeles with Pleasant Holidays, via now-defunct ATA Airlines, two years ago.

The new program will be the first time that Apple Vacations has operated charter flights from the City by the Bay to Cancun. And it will be the first time the tour operator has worked with Alaska Airlines on charter flights.

An explosion of luxury hotel building in the Riviera Maya region south of Cancun has drawn much interest, but it has not attracted the level of new airline service from the U.S. that the destination and its hoteliers would like.

The flights, for one-week or two-week stays, will operate Saturdays from Los Angeles April 4 through Sept. 5 and Saturdays from San Francisco May 23 through Sept. 5.

Seven-night hotel and air packages will feature a choice of more than 100 hotels in Cancun and the Riviera Maya. The lead price is $799.99 from Los Angeles and San Francisco for air and seven-night stay at the all-inclusive Solymar Cancun Beach Resort.

In addition to Cancun and the Riviera Maya, Apple Vacations offers vacation packages to nine other Mexico resort destinations: Puerto Vallarta/Riviera Nayarit, Cozumel, Acapulco, Los Cabos, Huatulco, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Loreto, Manzanillo and Mazatlan.