Over the last month and a half, Mexican low-cost carrier Interjet has operated solely with its Sukhoi Superjet100 fleet. Since the coronavirus crisis began, Interjet has returned 59 Airbus airplanes to leasing companies and has only had seven, all of them parked. What will happen with Interjet? Let’s investigate further.
During May, Interjet operated flights to six destinations from Mexico City. It did these flights with only three Sukhoi Superjet. The carrier flew to Cancún, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, and Mérida. All these operations are under two and a half hours of flight time, which is important to keep in mind.
Interjet has a fleet of 22 Sukhoi airplanes, but more than 50% of it hasn’t flown since 2018. It was widely known that Interjet was trying to get rid of its Russian-built fleet after years of disarrays. In January, the airline confirmed to Simple Flying that it was moving on to an Airbus-based fleet.
So, when the coronavirus crisis hit, Interjet had a problem. It started losing its Airbus fleet to leasing companies and closed its international operations. But, as we know, Mexico kept its skies open, so Interjet kept some routes open. To do it, Interjet brought its Sukhoi fleet back from the ground.
