Mexico’s Interjet resumes flights after two-day suspension

Interjet (4O, Toluca) cancelled all of its flights scheduled for two days, November 1 to 2, with local media reporting that it had failed to meet jet fuel payments. Operations resumed on November 3, but the company’s website was still not functional. “Airlines have been the most affected by the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. This situation has not spared Interjet, which has seen its operations and cash flow affected,” the airline said in a statement on November 1. “Additionally, some of the company’s aircraft have gone into maintenance, which has led to a restructuring of flight itineraries.” Before the statement was released, Mexico’s airport authority (Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares – ASA) told the newspaper Reforma that it had not supplied fuel for Interjet aircraft as the airline had not made advance payments for the fuel for the second time since late September. Local media published a letter by Sección 15, part of Mexico’s biggest union confederation (Confederación de Trabajadores de México – CTM), complaining that workers had not been paid in two months. Disgruntled employees staged demonstrations at México City Int’l and Cancún airports on November 3. However, also on November 3, El Financiero reported that Interjet had promised to pay the first of four unpaid fortnights this week following talks with the Ministry of the Interior. Interjet currently operates four SSJ 100/95s out of a total owned fleet of 21 of the aircraft type, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, deploying them on nine routes, all of them domestic. This compares to 88 Airbus and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft units and more than 80 domestic and international routes before the pandemic. ch-aviation analysis of Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows that on November 3, XA-GCD (msn 95052) had resumed flights linking Guadalajara with Hermosillo, Hermosillo with Tijuana, and Guadalajara with Mexico City; XA-JBA (msn 95085) flew between Mexico City and Guadalajara, Monterrey General Mariano Escobedo, and San José Cabo; XA-VAS (msn 95065) operated between Mexico City and both Cancún and Guadalajara; and XA-VER (msn 95081) between Mexico City and Cancún, Guadalajara, and Mérida.