Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC
Aeromexico and Mexicana hope to finalise plans for a common replacement narrowbody jet by August, after the Mexican Government indicated it would permit both carriers to remain under Cintra ownership.
The state-run Cintra holding company wants to amalgamate the two airlines' long-running refleeting evaluation and analysis to come up with a common set of requirements for passenger seat size and aircraft numbers.
Mexicana and Aeromexico have a combined requirement for as many as 100 narrowbody aircraft over the next 10 years. This could bring about the biggest Latin American deal since LanChile, TACA and TAM together ordered 90 Airbus Industrie A319s and A320s last year.
Cintra is looking for a family of aircraft ranging in size from 100 to 150 seats to replace, initially, Mexicana's 12 Fokker 100s and Aeromexico's 17 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s. Aeromexico also has a requirement to replace its 34 Boeing MD-80s and Mexicana is looking to phase out 23 Boeing 727-200s.
Political pressure to separate Aeromexico from the smaller Mexicana, following allegations of predatory practices, had cast doubt on plans for a co-ordinated fleet purchase. Government officials suggested recently that they may be allowed to stay together in the face of international competition.
Industry sources say there is still the challenge of reconciling Aeromexico's all-Boeing fleet of 62 with Mexicana's 54 aircraft, which includes 14 newer A320s with a further eight on order.
Boeing is pushing to sell the 717 as a Fokker 100 and DC-9 replacement, with the larger next generation 737. It faces competition from the A320 family, including the newly launched smaller A318.
The US Department of Transport, meanwhile, has approved a range of US-Mexican airline code-sharing arrangements. This allows Delta Air Lines to expand a five-year-old codeshare relationship with Aeromexico, while United Airlines will extend its more recent agreement with Mexicana.
In addition, Northwest will be allowed to codeshare with partners Continental and Alaska between the USA and Mexico.
Source: Flight International
