HARLINGEN, Texas - Any idea what the busiest domestic airline route is in North America?
LA to New York? No. That is the second busiest. Chicago to New York? No. San Francisco to Los Angeles? No. It is, in fact, Cancun to Mexico City. The third busiest is Mexico City to Monterrey.
The Rio Grande Guardian learned these facts when interviewing José Mulet, director of air service, business development, and public relations for Valley International Airport (VIA) in Harlingen.
Mulet appears to have an encyclopedic knowledge of airline routes and how popular they are. The busiest domestic airline route in the world, he said, is Jeju to Seoul. Another busy domestic route is Beijing to Shanghai. So are Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh, and Melbourne to Sydney.
Mulet said there are ten Airbus 380 flights a day between London Heathrow and, Dubai.
José MuletRio Grande Valley residents may not be able to pick Mulet’s brain on airline routes for much longer, however. After 33 years in the aviation industry the airport executive is slated to retire at the end of February, 2022. Likely as not we will then find him on a cruise. There are many places he wants to visit. He plans to do a two-week cruise from Santiago to Buenos Aires and visit New Zealand to see the fjords.
A former high school teacher, Mulet started out in the airline industry in 1978 just as deregulation was getting underway. “Airlines could fly anywhere they wanted,” he recalled. “So, there was a boom in the airline industry.”
Mulet started out in San Antonio with Tejas Airlines, getting the Laredo to San Antonio route up and running. “We had six flights a day,” he said. He later joined Braniff and then Mexicana. He was with Mexicana 18 years but was laid off during Desert Storm. He worked for a further five airlines, including Delta and Southwest.
“I live in ten different cities and worked for eight different airlines. I learned a lot,” he said. “Seventeen different job titles, from reservation agent to customer ticket agent. I was director of training for one airline. I was dispatcher for another airline.”
One job he particularly enjoyed was working as “misconnection coordinator” for Braniff Airlines in Kansas City. “I was in charge of all the people that were flying in and going to miss their connecting flight. I was in charge of booking them on a different airline. That was a lot of fun. Every day was different.”
Another highlight was providing the Smithsonian with a poster to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Mexicana Airlines. “It started in 1921 and had colorful history,” Mulet said. “It was North America’s oldest airline and Pope John Paul II flew it four times. He loved Mexicana.”
Mulet said there is a classic black and white photo of Marilyn Monroe christening the first non-stop flight from LA to Mexico City. “Mexicana used to be the fourth oldest airline in the world.”
Sadly, Mexicana ceased operating in 2010.
Mulet arrived at VIA in 2005. He says he is proud of the 16 years of service he has given to the Rio Grande Valley.
“I have seen the Valley grow and grow and grow. The UT development has really unified the region. The medical school… our healthcare is improving, which attracts more people. Our cross border traffic is something that is unique to our area,” Mulet said.
He then spoke about some of the interesting niches he had observed while working at VIA.
“Do you know what transmigrantes are? They are reaching Los Indios (International Bridge), the ones going to Central America. Well, I was noticing that people were checking in with these wrapped tow bars. They were checking luggage with tow bars. Five or six people on a flight. So, I had to ask. What are you doing with these tow bars? Well, we are flying to Minneapolis to the car auction. We are bringing these cars that are going down to Central America and we are bringing them down on these tow bars. There is a little niche of northbound traffic because of this business. It is unreal.”
He then listed another niche.
“You know the maquiladoras we have in Reynosa and Matamoros? They have them Ciudad Juarez. The same companies. Well, they (company managers) need to have meetings with their sister plants. There is no air service bus between Matamoros or Reynosa and Ciudad Juarez, unless you take a bus to Monterrey and you take a nonstop flight. So, they have to fly from Matamoros or Reynosa to Mexico City and then fly up to Ciudad Juarez. Well, that fare is $700 round trip. So, what do they do? They come across the border to our airport, fly to Houston, fly to El Paso and then go across to Juarez. Because it is cheaper.”
Mulet then mentioned another niche.
“Have you been to Querétaro? You need to put it on your list because Querétaro has a cluster of automakers, GM, Chrysler and so on. I was am at the Querétaro airport to board a flight and I am looking at the Aero Mexico line. It was so long. Where were all these people going? Oh, nonstop to Detroit. A lot of the people were (auto) workers, going to visit friends. It is amazing, the way traffic flows.”
Mulet said he is also proud of how VIA has maintained its position in the market.
“It is a rewarding and a proud moment as I end my career to see what we have done, all the things we have gone through, including a pandemic, hurricanes. It has been an honor to be here and serve the airport, to keep the markets we have and try to get additional markets,” Mulet said.
That last remark may have been a reference to Mulet’s continued campaign to get nonstop Valley to San Antonio flights re-established.
"This is a premium airfield, it used to be an Air Force base. To keep it up you need a good team of professionals. To keep the vision, and look to the future. As the airport gets older you need to update things. The LED lights we installed, we are saving $35,000 a month. That took two years to change everything. You plan ahead with that vision. That takes time.”
Mulet said VIA has plans to extend its longest runway.
“It will become the longest runway south of Austin. That project should be finished, hopefully by the end of next year. The folks that are going to benefit are our air cargo. Those folks operate the largest aircraft. I do not see an end of this growth in e-commerce. The cargo business is just going to expand.”
By way of an example he said Sun Country, which flies out of Harlingen, has an agreement with Amazon. “They have a portion of their airplanes, the 737s, dedicated to Amazon. That helps offset losses with passengers.”
A recent addition in passenger flights has been Frontier’s Harlingen to Orlando route. “The thing about Orlando is that it has a large Hispanic population there. There is a great mix of traffic we can capture. You have access to Cape Canaveral. Cruise ships leave from there. You have ongoing connections. And only $49.”
He said Frontier’s Monday and Friday flights to Las Vegas is also popular. “It allows connections to the western part of country.”
Mulet said VIA’s frequent fliers should mark their calendars for March 10, 2022.
“Southwest will add additional flights out of Harlingen. We will go to two daily flights to Austin. A morning and afternoon flight, so you can go and come back the same day. Austin is a large Southwest station so it has lots of connections, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chicago and so on. The other destination that is getting more flights is Houston. Five flights a day to Houston and a daily nonstop to Dallas Love Field. That will operate around midday, 11 to 1, going and coming. From there you can fly on to Chicago, Oklahoma, St. Louis.”
March is a good time to for Southwest to expand services, Mulet said. “It is good timing for our Spring Break season, while the peak for Winter Texans is January-March. Southwest has been doing a lot of sales and when that happens competitors usually match that rate."
American Airlines, meanwhile, will upgrade the fleet that comes to VIA from Dallas-Fort Worth in January, 2022. A larger jet will seat 76 passengers.
“There will be a Saturday, Chicago O’Hare nonstop flight on January 8. It has good connectivity. For example, with that flight, Saturday to Chicago there will be 14 city markets that will have a single plane connection. For example, you can fly Flint, Michigan to the Valley, and be here by noon. With double stops, you get here by 5 pm. We will be marketing those 14 cities, inviting them to come to the Valley. They can get here more quickly on Saturdays, using the Chicago connection.”
Asked about Southwest’s nonstop flights to Austin, Mulet said VIA has never done two flights a day to the Texas capital.
“Austin is a very good mix of business traffic and leisure traffic. Twice a day is going to help the business market. A big factor in this must be SpaceX. We may start getting their engineers that are located north of Austin. We have to remember, also, that a lot of the state associations are based in Austin. You have the teachers that go to all those seminars in Austin. The university is a big draw as well. And there are a lot of Fortune 500 companies based in Austin. But, the aerospace industry is going to be good for us.”
Editor’s Note: The above news feature is the first in a series on Valley International Airport’s José Mulet before he retires on Feb. 28, 2022.
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