Interjet (Toluca) has grounded four of its twenty-two SSJ 100/95s and is using these aircraft as sources of parts to keep the remaining eighteen aircraft of the type flying, Bloomberg has reported.
According to Flightradar24 ADS-B data, the stored aircraft are XA-JLG (msn 95023, last flight on May 14, 2017), XA-JLV (msn 95028, last flight on August 21, 2017), and XA-BVM (msn 95054, last flight on July 18, 2017). The first two aircraft are stored at Toluca, while the latter is stored at México City International. Flightglobal reported that the fourth stored aircraft is XA-PBA (msn 95040).
The stored aircraft are between 3 and 6 years old.
The Mexican carrier's CEO Jose Luis Garza confirmed that the airline has been struggling with the maintenance of its Sukhoi Civil Aircraft regional jets, but stressed Interjet is not in a difficult financial situation because of that.
Interjet is the second biggest SSJ 100 operator in the world, trailing behind Aeroflot. The Mexican carrier is also one of the few users of the type from outside Russia and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members. CityJet (WX, Dublin International) operates six SSJ 100s, while Royal Thai Air Force (Bangkok Don Mueang) acquired two jets of the type. Interjet still expects the delivery of a further eight aircraft of the type.
The lack of Sukhoi facilities in North America and the distance from the manufacturer's base, as well as technical problems with PowerJet SaM146 engines are some of the reasons for the reportedly high maintenance costs of the jets.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, Interjet uses its SSJ 100s mostly on domestic routes from bases in Aguascalientes, Guadalajara, México City International, Monterrey Mariano Escobedo and Toluca. It also deploys the aircraft on the international services out of Monterey to each of Houston Intercontinental, San Antonio International, and Havana International, as well as out of Mexico City to each of Santa Clara de Cuba and Varadero.
Separately, Garza added that he hopes to find an investor for Interjet either through an IPO or via a direct sale of shares to a foreign entity, preferably an airline. Currently, the airline is owned by the Aleman family.
