Mexico City

Company and airport officials this week lauded Mexico City-based Interjet's recent announcement that it will begin offering nonstop daily service from John Wayne Airport to Guadalajara and Mexico City starting in October. Interjet — which company Chief Executive Jose Luis Garza Alvarez said has taken business cues from U.S. low-fare carrier JetBlue — aims to bring convenience and affordability to international travel, especially for local residents who formerly braved the chaos of Los Angeles International Airport to visit family in Mexico.

Low-fare airline Interjet's first flights out of John Wayne Airport took off Thursday, carrying passengers to Guadalajara and Mexico City. The Mexico-based carrier is the second to offer Mexico service from JWA . The first was AirTran Airways, which launched service to Mexico City and Cabo San Lucas in June. AirTran and Interjet are also the first to make use of JWA's Terminal C customs checkpoint. Airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said in an email that Interjet's launch day flights were full, as were flights for the next few days, according to the carrier.

InterJet plans to offer daily nonstop flights from Orange County to Mexico City and Guadalajara starting in mid-October, the airline announced in a press release last week. The announcement came after the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved the Mexico City-based company's lease agreement with John Wayne Airport at the board's Sept. 11 meeting. InterJet had a "breakout year" in 2011 and plans on expanding its flight offerings to more U.S. destinations, including Miami and San Antonio, said spokesman Martin Elder.

John Wayne Airport passengers should soon be able to jet off to Mexico City and Cabo San Lucas. AirTran Airways, a recently acquired subsidiary of Southwest Airlines, is set to offer the flights starting June 3. Flights to Mexico City are still subject to Mexican government approval, according to a news release. "We are thrilled that AirTran Airways is bringing Orange County our first-ever nonstop service to Mexico," Airport Director Alan L. Murphy said in a prepared statement.

Alan Alcantara spent Christmas Day unlike most kids in this country. His parents weren't around to celebrate a holiday children look forward to each year. On this day, his mother worked a double shift and his father worked on returning to his family. This was the second straight year Adan missed Christmas with his four kids and wife. Alcantara said since his father's deportation to Mexico 16 months ago that he's had to become the man of the house. Alcantara says he has assumed that role since he was 15. His first year as a high school student at Newport Harbor he dealt with more than just his studies and playing on the boys' soccer team.

Bryce Alderton Australian Rodger Davis returned to Newport Beach Country Club, site of his first Champions Tour win at last year's Toshiba Senior Classic, and didn't take long to crack his first joke during media day Monday. "I would rather have a shotgun than [be around a handgun]," Davis said with a sheepish grin as laughter erupted from a small gathering of reporters gathered inside NBCC. The affable Davis, another golfer and two caddies were held up at gunpoint by two men in a Mexico City restaurant during last year's PGA Champions Tour event there [the MasterCard Classic]

Deepa Bharath Susana Hernandez never dreamed that a trip to her native Mexico to visit her family would split her world in two. Hernandez traveled from Costa Mesa to Cuatla Moreles, about an hour and a half from Mexico City, with her husband, Arturo, daughter Marcela and son Luis during Christmas vacation. The couple hoped it would be a pleasant holiday to make up for a life of hard work and monotony. But that was not to be. Arturo, a diabetic for two years, suffered from a serious attack that made his blood sugar soar, Susana said.

Two days ago, I had a long chat with Edgar Vazquez, a soccer guru and local businessman, at a coffee shop. Since this sport has been in the news lately in Costa Mesa, I thought I should retool my knowledge of the game, including understanding the politics hidden behind it. To begin with, I've always thought the few people who complained about the game, and the city officials who generously acquiesced to these individual's unfounded...

Ramon Delgado and Michaela Pastikova will return to the Newport Beach Breakers for the 2008 World Team Tennis season, joined by newcomers Angelika Bachmann and Bruno Echagaray. They will join the Breakers’ new marquee player, Lindsay Davenport, who will play her only home match at Newport Beach Country Club on July 10. “We’re excited to have drafted a great roster of talent for this season,” Breakers Coach Trevor Kronemann said in a release. “Ramon has consistently been one of if not the best players in the league and will be the cornerstone of our team again.

Many people mistakenly think that Cinco de Mayo is the holiday that celebrates the Independence of Mexico from Spain. In reality, Mexico gained its Independence from Spain on Sept. 16, 1821, so Cinco de Mayo celebrates an event that took place 42 years later! This is an example of how our understanding of history can and does change, and of how we often continue to perpetuate this misinformation. Actually this holiday celebrates a small, but important battle at Puebla in 1862 where the Mexicans defeated the French army as it invaded Mexico.

Alan Alcantara spent Christmas Day unlike most kids in this country. His parents weren't around to celebrate a holiday children look forward to each year. On this day, his mother worked a double shift and his father worked on returning to his family. This was the second straight year Adan missed Christmas with his four kids and wife. Alcantara said since his father's deportation to Mexico 16 months ago that he's had to become the man of the house. Alcantara says he has assumed that role since he was 15. His first year as a high school student at Newport Harbor he dealt with more than just his studies and playing on the boys' soccer team.

Low-fare airline Interjet's first flights out of John Wayne Airport took off Thursday, carrying passengers to Guadalajara and Mexico City. The Mexico-based carrier is the second to offer Mexico service from JWA . The first was AirTran Airways, which launched service to Mexico City and Cabo San Lucas in June. AirTran and Interjet are also the first to make use of JWA's Terminal C customs checkpoint. Airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said in an email that Interjet's launch day flights were full, as were flights for the next few days, according to the carrier.

Company and airport officials this week lauded Mexico City-based Interjet's recent announcement that it will begin offering nonstop daily service from John Wayne Airport to Guadalajara and Mexico City starting in October. Interjet — which company Chief Executive Jose Luis Garza Alvarez said has taken business cues from U.S. low-fare carrier JetBlue — aims to bring convenience and affordability to international travel, especially for local residents who formerly braved the chaos of Los Angeles International Airport to visit family in Mexico.

InterJet plans to offer daily nonstop flights from Orange County to Mexico City and Guadalajara starting in mid-October, the airline announced in a press release last week. The announcement came after the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved the Mexico City-based company's lease agreement with John Wayne Airport at the board's Sept. 11 meeting. InterJet had a "breakout year" in 2011 and plans on expanding its flight offerings to more U.S. destinations, including Miami and San Antonio, said spokesman Martin Elder.

AirTran Airways began daily flights from John Wayne Airport to Mexico over the weekend, offering a message of "Bienvenidos, Orange County" at its launch party. More than 200 passengers boarded planes for the Cabo San Lucas area and Mexico City on Sunday morning. Two fully booked planes, each with a seating capacity of 137 passengers, left the airport's newly built Terminal C amid fanfare that included a complimentary Mexican-style breakfast, sunglasses and other gifts from the airline.

Many people mistakenly think that Cinco de Mayo is the holiday that celebrates the Independence of Mexico from Spain. In reality, Mexico gained its Independence from Spain on Sept. 16, 1821, so Cinco de Mayo celebrates an event that took place 42 years later! This is an example of how our understanding of history can and does change, and of how we often continue to perpetuate this misinformation. Actually this holiday celebrates a small, but important battle at Puebla in 1862 where the Mexicans defeated the French army as it invaded Mexico.

Ramon Delgado and Michaela Pastikova will return to the Newport Beach Breakers for the 2008 World Team Tennis season, joined by newcomers Angelika Bachmann and Bruno Echagaray. They will join the Breakers’ new marquee player, Lindsay Davenport, who will play her only home match at Newport Beach Country Club on July 10. “We’re excited to have drafted a great roster of talent for this season,” Breakers Coach Trevor Kronemann said in a release. “Ramon has consistently been one of if not the best players in the league and will be the cornerstone of our team again.

NEWPORT COAST — When Newport Beach and Ensenada officials dined together Friday while hundreds of sailboats began their annual race from here to the Mexican city, it was more than just a social occasion. "Now we can have a cultural exchange, an economic exchange, a developmental exchange and a student exchange," said Ensenada's medical services director Dr. Jorge Alberto Saenz Flores. "Kids [from Ensenada] can learn English and the others can come learn Spanish." Saenz Flores was subbing for Ensenada Mayor Cesar Mancillas, who had to miss the get-together with Newport Beach Mayor Steve Rosansky and other local leaders to tend to an emergency in Ensenada.

Growing up near the beach in Mexico, Edward "Teddy" Kelly loved skateboards and surfing ? and later the graphics that came along with the sports gear. A couple of decades later, Kelly is a featured artist with edgy giant sports apparel maker Volcom Inc. based in Costa Mesa. He's just 27 but his talent for depicting cartoon characters and love for street and urban art shines through. Kelly was recently asked by the Mexican government to tour Mexico as a representative of the Arts and Culture of Mexico.