Mexicana de Aviación to receive aircraft until February 2024

MEXICO - Mexicana de Aviacion will take until February 2024 to obtain at least four Boeing 737 aircraft to begin operations as originally planned, which had to be altered due to a series of complications.

"If everything goes well, the aircraft could be ready in February, there are many lessors, owners who want to do business with the government; the model of a broker, which is the operator of the aircraft, changes the insurance guarantee, makes it onerous and unattractive to lease the aircraft. The guarantee is not against the Mexican government, it is against the broker," said a source familiar with the lease.

Mexicana is expected to begin service as of December 26 of this year with only two 50-seat Embraer-branded TAR leased aircraft and is expected to switch to four 737-800 aircraft by February of next year, although it all depends on aircraft availability.

The government's original proposal was to start with a dozen Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with a capacity of 180 passengers in a single class; however, market conditions, the scarcity of aircraft for lease and the presence of a third party in the lease complicated the start.

It is worth mentioning that the airline would only have four aircraft to take off to nine routes, instead of the 20 originally planned with 20 aircraft.