Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) : Airline

I spoke with Westwind's Gayle Lurenz, hoping to get a little more information on Westwind, their flights, and their plans for the future.

A: Anyone wanting these flights can book their reservation via our toll free number, 1-888-869-0866 or via our website at www.westwindairservice.com. See question #4 for some critical details. We will require full names, address, contact phone number, weight, passport number or certified birth certificate number of each passenger. Approximate amount (weight) of luggage and a credit card to hold the reservation. Reservations must be made 24 hours in advance of the flight and there is a 48 hour cancellation policy.

Question: How long does the flight take? Anything interesting along the way - for example, do you fly over Pinacate? Tucson?

A: The flight is 1 hour and 15 min. down (clear Mexico customs in Rocky Point) and approximately 1hr. 45 min. back (we clear customs in Tucson on the return. We fly scenic air tours throughout Arizona so are accustomed to flying low enough to enjoy the unique rock formations and beauty of the Sonoran Desert enroute and my favorite part is flying low over the actual border between the countries.

Question: If I'm flying into Mexico, what do I need as far as identification goes? Passport? Does Westwind handle this, or someone else? What's the drill, so to speak, with flying into a foreign country?

A: You may have seen in the papers recently, pretty much everyone is going to need a passport in the very near future. Our arrangements with customs at this time are that you must have a valid passport or a Certified Birth Certificate plus one other form of ID. You will be asked for the numbers on these documents at the time of booking and must present them upon check in on the day of your flight. Temporarily, we may only fly US Citizens. This will be expanded in the next little while but for the moment we have this restriction.

Question: I remember hearing about these flights last year, and then they completely disappeared - What was the holdup getting flights into Mexico? FAA? DHS? Has that all been figured out?

A: The process of getting authorization to fly commercial flights between two countries is very long and involved. Westwind began this process about a year ago and has had wonderful co-operation from both sides of the border. We made our initial announcements of service on February 18th this year. On that day we were honored to be welcomed by Governor Eduardo Bours and cabinet, to the state of Sonora. That visit was part of a larger economic development and tourism event which provided the ceremonial groundbreaking for the improvements to the existing airport.

Question: If I've got a family of, say, 6, can we all cram in the plane? What's the max seating?

A: Westwind is very proud of our fleet of Caravans (the plane, not the van :-)) They are high winged aircraft with large windows, air conditioning and are configured to seat 9 passengers. This gives everyone a window seat and a very comfortable amount of personal space. They are very new aircraft and the Caravan has been rated one of the safest, most efficient and durable aircraft in the sky today. The Cessna Caravan is a single engine turbo-prop aircraft, which, for us non-pilots, means it's like a jet engine with a propeller.

Question: Do you have group rates?

A: We do offer group pricing for specific things but please keep in mind a 'group' is 18 or more passengers. Anyone needing information on groups should contact me directly at glurenz@westwindairservice.com.

Question: Thanks! Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about Westwind?

A: Just as a little background information on the company - Westwind has been in business in Phoenix for approximately 20 years. Westwind Aviation has many departments. We are an FBO (Fixed Base Operator) for the Deer Valley Airport and as such, have full fueling, maintenance, hanger space and tiedown services for all private aircraft using our facility. We have one of the top flight schools in the country as well. We also are one of only two Caravan Service Centers in the Southwest and are a Cessna Dealer. Our Air Service department is headquartered at the Deer Valley Airport and we have a secondary base at Page, Arizona on Lake Powell. This department operates our Scenic Air Tours from both Phoenix and Page to Sedona, the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley for thousands of passengers each year. We also provide charter flights throughout the southwest and Northern Mexico and now our scheduled flights to both the Grand Canyon and Rocky Point from our Phoenix base. As you can see, we have been around for awhile and we keep busy :-)

If you have taken one of these charter flights, we'd love to hear from you and get your opinion!