Puerto Vallarta International Airport suspended all operations at 18:00 on Saturday 10 October 2026 as Hurricane Simón advanced, after the storm reached category 4 that morning with maximum sustained winds of 240 kilometres per hour and gusts of 295, according to the statement from Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) reported by Infobae.
The airport measure is part of a broader preventive operation. Authorities suspended non-essential activities from 16:00 on Saturday across 24 municipalities in Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán and Nayarit, while the Government of Nayarit imposed Ley Seca (dry law) from 00:00 on Sunday 11 October, closed all of its beaches under a black flag and activated 171 shelters, according to El Financiero. The cancelled flights cover Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday 11, and access to the terminal remains restricted. For Mexico, Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas form one of the Pacific's tourism strips with the highest foreign-currency earnings, with high occupancy in October, so two days of airport and road closures immediately adjust the start of the season.
GAP specified that flights scheduled from 17:00 on Saturday and every flight on Sunday are cancelled, and asked passengers not to go to the terminal and instead to take shelter in hotels or shelters. On the ground, the Secretaría de Marina evacuated more than 200 people from communities such as El Rebalse and another 76 from Quimixto and Yelapa, in coordination with the Unidad de Protección Civil de Jalisco, according to El Financiero. Road transport also stopped: ETN Turistar, Autovías, Rapi2s, Sur de Jalisco and Nuevo Horizonte suspended services to Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, Cihuatlán, Barra de Navidad, Colima and Tepic.
Reopening is scheduled for 08:00 on Monday 12 October, subject to the weather assessment and safety inspections, and GAP will report any change through official channels. With the alert still active in six municipalities of Nayarit and on the Jalisco coast, the restart of the high season is tied to the official calendar.
This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.