Unable to buy or lease new aircraft, Mexicana de Aviación, the state-owned airline, plans to use three military aircraft to stat its commercial operation, as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants the inauguration to be held at the end of December this year.
The carrier is facing difficulties in obtaining a sizable fleet of aircraft, so considering it as a last measure, it will be forced to use three aircraft from the Army's fleet for its start of operations on December 26, said Enrique Vallín Osuna, the director general of the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC).
In a media interaction, the General Enrique Vallín Osuna hinted that the carrier has sent three aircraft to different MROs/ workshops in the country before they are analyzed by the aeronautical authority, which will have to verify that the planes are fit to fly.
The aircraft are part of Sedena's fleet and belong to the U.S. manufacturer Boeing, two models correspond to the B737-800 variant, while the third is a 737-300, with an age of more than 15 years.
Vallín Osuna said that the authority will review each of the requirements of the aircraft when they are presented for review and the airline can obtain the air operator certificate (AOC), which is still in process.
At the moment, Mexicana has not been able to sell tickets because it does not have the necessary permits for the AFAC, although the president has said that the company will begin operations before the end of this year.
In this regard, Vallín Osuna assured that it is possible that operations will begin on the date announced by the president, December 26, but clarified that everything depends on the airline complying with safety requirements.
The goal of Mexicana de Aviación, under the control of the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena), is to start operations as of December 26. In addition to the three military planes, it has already leased two aircraft from the Brazilian brand Embraer, model 145, with capacity for 50 passengers.
These two aircraft belong to the company Transportes Aéreos Regionales (TAR) and have already been painted with the new colors of the Mexican state airline.
For his part, the Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation, Jorge Nuño, said that, according to information communicated to the agency, Mexicana will begin flying on December 26, although the company cannot yet sell tickets until it has the aircraft with which it will fly and obtains the air operator's certificate.
"Mexicana is defining what routes it has according to the availability of equipment it will have for that date," Nuño said Tuesday.
Mexican State airline is changing the livery of this 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145, belonging to the Regional Air Transport (TAR) based in Querétaro, to obtain the certificates that will allow it to finally obtain permission to operate in national territory.
Mexicana's start of operations had to be postponed from the original proposal to start flying on December 2, as the government was unable to obtain aircraft in a highly demanded market.
The new date and the start of the flights also underwent a change: of the 20 routes proposed to start, only 9 will be available at the start.
On November 21, the President of the Republic acknowledged that they would not be able to start flying on December 2 as expected due to problems in obtaining the planes
"We are achieving, we have already made progress but we want to have the largest number of aircraft. Everything is already resolved, we have the budget, the authorization of the aviation authorities and they are acquiring planes, renting planes, we have the advice of Boeing, but it is not easy to have all the planes," López Obrador admitted during his morning conference.
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In mid-November, the administrators of the new commercial airline reported that they would not be able to meet the announced trips on 20 routes, and limited the start of operations to only 11 destinations.
For this reason, it canceled flights to Cancun, Cozumel, Merida, Campeche, Chetumal, Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Bajío, La Paz, San José del Cabo, and Hermosillo.
On August 10, 2023, the Mexican government had announced a "historic agreement" with the 7,407 workers of the defunct Mexicana de Aviación, to acquire the rights to the brand for 815 million pesos.
Photo Courtesy : Rubén Mendoza
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