Summary
- Mexicana de Aviación will not start operations with a fleet of Boeing 737-800s as initially announced. Instead, the carrier will wet lease aircraft and crew from TAR Aerolíneas.
- The first plane received by Mexicana de Aviación is an Embraer E145 from TAR Aerolíneas, with a capacity for 50 passengers in an economy configuration.
- TAR Aerolíneas will assume operational responsibility, including maintenance, insurance, and other legal responsibilities, under the wet leasing agreement with Mexicana de Aviación.
The new Mexicana de Aviación, a Mexican army startup to launch as soon as next month, will not begin operations with a Boeing 737-800 fleet as first announced. Instead, the company will wet lease aircraft and crew from another Mexican carrier, Transportes Aéreos Regionales, better known as TAR. The first plane, an Embraer E145, was spotted on Thursday.
The new plane
When Mexicana de Aviación was announced a few months ago, the first information revealed was that it would launch operations with a fleet of ten Boeing 737-800s. The airline was already in negotiations to lease the aircraft, and some should have arrived in September and October. However, reality has been vastly different. Mexicana de Aviación was set to launch operations on December 1, 2023. Twenty days away from that date, the company still lacks an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and has only just received its first plane, not a Boeing 737.
Reported first by Ximena Garmendia on X (formerly Twitter), she posted two images of an Embraer E145 registration XA-VGQ, receiving the Mexicana livery. This aircraft, serial number 145418, is a 22.56-year-old Embraer-145EP owned by Regional One and first delivered in April 2001. Per ch-aviation, the plane has a capacity for 50 passengers in an economy configuration, and it was set to be operated by TAR Aerolíneas, a regional Mexican carrier. In the past, it flew with HOP!-Régional, Trans States Airlines, Air Philip, and Paradigm Jet Management.
Wet leasing the airline and crew
The Mexican media outlet A21 reported that TAR would wet lease the Embraer E145 aircraft to Mexicana de Aviación. This also includes the crew from TAR to operate future flights. Under a wet leasing agreement, the owner (in this case, TAR Aerolíneas) assumes operational responsibility, which includes performing maintenance, procuring insurance, and other legal responsibilities of operations.
Photo: Mislik | Shutterstock.
Mexicana de Aviación 2.0 is a startup announced by the Mexican government. It is set to operate from Mexico City’s Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU) and operate 20 domestic routes during its first phase. The company is employing the old brand and name of Mexicana de Aviación, a historic company (Mexico’s first airline) that went bankrupt in 2010.
Who is TAR Aerolíneas?
Mexico’s aviation landscape is composed of seven commercial airlines, of which three hold over 95% of the market share (Aeromexico, Viva Aerobus, and Volaris). The remaining four companies are regional carriers. Their names are Aerus, Calafia Airlines, Magnicharters, and Transportes Aéreos Regionales. The first one is a startup launched this year, which expects to introduce Alice, the all-electric aircraft, in the future.
TAR Aerolíneas has a fleet of nine aircraft per ch-aviation, of which four are active and five inactive. They are all Embraer E145LR planes, averaging 24.4 years of age. Per Cirium, TAR Aerolíneas operates about 251 weekly flights as of November 2023. The airline’s main hubs of operations are Querétaro (QRO) and Hermosillo (HMO), where it has 33 and 31 weekly domestic departures.
TAR Aerolíneas exclusively operates domestic flights.In July 2023, Ethos Asset Management, a US-based company, announced a new long-term financing partnership with TAR Aerolíneas. Ethos committed to providing significant capital infusion as the firm saw a double-digit growth opportunity in Mexico’s regional market, which is underserved and difficult for operators to access.
What do you think about Mexicana de Aviación’s new aircraft? Let us know in the comments below. Source: A21, Ximena Garmendia, ch-aviation, Cirium.