Manzanillo is served by Playa de Oro International Airport (ZLO), a small airport serving the Colima coast. Its primary function is to handle seasonal tourist traffic into ZLO, with a very limited schedule of domestic flights arriving in Manzanillo and occasional international charters during the peak winter months.
Travelers flying into Manzanillo will find essential domestic connectivity from Mexico City (MEX) to ZLO on a limited schedule. During the high season (roughly December to April), there may be a small number of direct international charter flights into Manzanillo from Canada (e.g., from Calgary or Vancouver) operated by tour companies to ZLO. There are no regularly scheduled international flights into Manzanillo from the United States.
The market into Manzanillo is minimal. Aeroméxico Connect typically operates the route from Mexico City to ZLO, sometimes on a non-daily basis. Seasonal charter flights into Manzanillo are handled by Canadian leisure airlines like Air Transat or Sunwing.
To secure flights to Manzanillo, advance planning is essential due to very limited frequencies into ZLO. For international arrivals into Manzanillo, you are largely restricted to the winter charter season into ZLO and must book a package tour to reach Manzanillo. For all other travel to Manzanillo, the standard and most reliable strategy is to book a domestic flight from Mexico City (MEX) to ZLO and connect there from your origin. Given the airport's limitations into Manzanillo, many travelers choose to fly into the larger Licenciado Miguel de la Madrid Airport (CLQ) in Colima city, approximately an hour's drive from Manzanillo, which offers more flight options into the region, or to fly into Guadalajara's airport (GDL), about 3-4 hours away from Manzanillo, for a vastly greater selection of domestic and international flights into the area, then take ground transport to Manzanillo.