Domestic operations on course with used A320s and airline is poised to finalise deal for new-build aircraft
Mexican start-up Interjet will finalise its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Airbus this month for up to 20 A320s and will take delivery of its first used A320 in November.
In his first media interview, Interjet chief executive Jose Luis Garza Alvarez told Flight International’s sister online news service Air Transport Intelligence that the carrier is on schedule to launch domestic operations from its Toluca base on 1 December.
The airline expects to receive its air operator’s certificate (AOC) just before the planned launch date, says Alvarez. Interjet will launch with three aircraft once operated by Italian carrier Volare. These are scheduled for delivery next month. A further four former Volare aircraft will be delivered by March, says Garza Alvarez.
Up to 20 new aircraft could be added to Interjet’s fleet under an MoU signed in June at the Paris air show. This order for 10 A320s and 10 options is to be confirmed on 27 October, when Miguel Aleman, chairman of Interjet parent Aleman Group, meets Airbus.
New aircraft deliveries are scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2007 and, with the options, Interjet plans to take delivery of four aircraft each year through to 2011. “We are committed to 27 aircraft over the next six years and by 2011 we should be an airline with a fleet of 30 aircraft,” says Garza Alvarez.
The first Interjet service is planned for 1 December, when it begins services from Toluca to Cancun, Monterrey and Guadalajara. Also in December, the carrier will begin linking Monterrey with Guadalajara.
This will be followed in March with the addition of “nine or 10 new routes”, including Acapulco, Chihuahua, Hermosillo, Merida and Veracruz. Each route will be served with a minimum of two daily frequencies.
Source: Flight International
