Hurricane Simon Closes Puerto Vallarta Airport; Manzanillo Also Shut Amid Pacific Coast Storm
Why It MattersSlow-moving Pacific hurricanes close airports for days and push recovery past reopening, since carriers must inspect, reposition and clear backlogs, so waivers and rebooked capacity set the real timeline.
What happened
Hurricane Simon struck Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 240 km/h, later weakening to Category 3 as rain flooded the coast. The storm moved slowly up the coast, prolonging dangerous conditions over several days. A hurricane warning covered the coast from Punta San Telmo to Punta Mita, including Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta.
Puerto Vallarta International Airport (PVR) has been closed since Saturday, October 10, and the closure has been extended to 08:00 local time on Tuesday, October 13, subject to change. Manzanillo International Airport (ZLO) closed at 18:00 on Saturday, October 10, with an initial reopening scheduled for 08:00 on Sunday. Passengers are advised to check the Pacific Airport Group (GAP) for current status.
Mexican authorities placed 28 municipalities across Jalisco and Colima under the highest cyclone alert level and another 93 municipalities under high alert.
Volaris cancelled flights on October 10 and 11 involving Puerto Vallarta, Tepic, Uruapan and Colima. Viva Aerobus cancelled flights on October 11 and 12, including routes linking Puerto Vallarta with Mexico City, Guadalajara, Toluca, Monterrey, Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana, as well as Mexico City–Manzanillo services. Aeromexico is also cancelling Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo services during the disruption window. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have issued travel waivers covering Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, while Southwest Airlines and WestJet have also issued waivers for affected flights.
Industry impact & what to watch
A hurricane that stalls along a coast closes airports for days, not hours, and the damage to schedules outlasts the closure itself. Even if PVR reopens at 08:00 on Tuesday, airlines will need time to inspect aircraft, reposition aircraft and crew, clear the backlog of cancelled services and process stranded passengers, so Tuesday flights may be limited and full operations may not resume until Wednesday.
That sequence is why waivers matter as much as reopening times. Carriers that publish flexible rebooking early shift demand away from the first recovery days, which eases the load on a restart that has to handle displaced passengers and normal bookings together.
The nearest milestone is the 08:00 Tuesday reopening of PVR, and any further extension would push the recovery window back accordingly. A second system adds a separate watch item: Tropical Storm Rachel is approaching Baja California and Southern California, and Los Cabos International Airport had not been closed at the time of reporting, though conditions could deteriorate if Rachel strengthens.
