Mexico's Interjet is adding three destinations to its domestic network as it looks to fill some of the void left by Mexicana.
Interjet in a statement says it launched services from Mexico City to Chetumal yesterday. An Interjet spokeswoman says service to Veracruz and Villahermosa will begin at the end of this month.
The Mexico City-Chetumal route is being served with one flight six days per week. Interjet says the new route is the low-cost carrier's 34th overall and 21st from Mexico City International Airport.
According to Innovata, Chetumal was previously only served by Mexicana subsidiary Click with 12 weekly Boeing 717 flights. Interjet responded quickly in launching Chetumal after the city was left with no air service on 28 August, when Grupo Mexicana suspended all operations.
Only a few destinations in Grupo Mexicana's network were exclusive to Mexicana. At one of the other exclusive Mexicana destinations, Minatitlan, Aeromexico Connect quickly moved to fill the void by launching yesterday one daily flight from Mexico City.
Veracruz and Villahermosa are served by multiple carriers including Aeromexico and regional carrier Aeromar from Mexico City. But Mexicana had a large presence in both markets, with six daily Click flights from Mexico City to both Veracruz and Villahermosa.
Interjet has not yet set an initial schedule for its Veracruz and Villahermosa services and has not started tickets sales on these routes.
While Interjet's largest operation is at Mexico City International its headquarters and maintenance base are at Mexico City alternative airport Toluca. The carrier now operates eight routes from Toluca but all these destinations are also served from Mexico City and Interjet has been focusing primarily on expanding at Mexico City since securing access to the centrally-located airport in 2008.
To help accommodate passengers impacted by Mexicana's shutdown, Interjet says it will also temporarily operate additional frequencies from Mexico City to Tampico, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Cancun and Huatulco. Between today and 15 September, Interjet will operate a total of 11 extra flights to Tampico, 20 extra flights to Tuxtla Gutierrez, 11 to Cancun and six to Huatulco.
Interjet currently only operates domestic services with a fleet of 17 Airbus A320s.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
