United heads south

International travelers will soon be able to enjoy two new United Airlines routes to Mexico.

The flights from Chicago to Puerto Vallarta and Los Angeles to Cancun are available to book immediately and will begin on March 4.

Both return flights are in time for spring travel, and will start life as weekly services running every Saturday.

The Chicago to Puerto Vallarta flight will become daily from December 15, while summertime travelers will be able to enjoy daily return flights from LA to Cancun from June 8, 2006.

These are the first of five routes that American has applied to run to Mexico. Return flights between Chicago and Cancun, LA and Jose del Cabo and LA and Puerto Vallarta are all pending approval from the US Department of Transport.

The confirmed routes will take United's total weekly departures to Mexico up to 91, and a recent agreement between the U.S. and Mexico could see this number rise over the next year.

Greg Taylor, United's senior vice president of planning, explained that the airline is committed to providing passengers with even more Mexican travel options.

Flight times for the new routes have yet to be confirmed.

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