Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed on Tuesday that the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) has plans to launch its own airline with a fleet of at least 10 planes, including the Boeing 787-8
José María Morelos y Pavón
that his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto, bought and that he unsuccessfully tried to sell at the beginning of his six-year term,
"It's true, it's true that, did it come from there? Yes, it is being worked on," said the president during his usual morning press conference, referring to the hacking of the Guacamaya activist group that exposed more than seven terabytes of email data electronics of the Armed Forces.
"It is the possibility that there is a project to have an airline that manages the same company that will be in charge of the Mayan train and the Felipe Ángeles airports, the Tulum airport," added AMLO, as he is nicknamed. by the initials of his name
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According to the documents released by the Guacamaya
hacktivist
group , which also leaked information about the Chilean Armed Forces and the National Police of El Salvador, the plane would be leased to the Olmeca-Maya-Mexica military company, which already manages the Mayan Train and the Felipe Ángeles Airport, two of the flagship projects of the current Administration.
“The economic feasibility analysis is being done, the presidential plane is being considered, handing it over to the company that is going to handle those
10 planes, which are not going to be acquired
but rented, they are looking for the most convenient type of plane, with what companies, all this because there needs to be more service”, he said.
According to the president, it is a proposal to fill the void left by the disappearance of the Mexicana and Interjet airlines, after which many cities have few flights.
They call themselves 'Guacamaya' and they attribute a massive cyber attack against the Mexican Army
Sept.
30, 202202:08
However, Sedena itself warns in the leaked documents that it would be difficult to make the company commercially viable, which is why it suggests a use focused on humanitarian operations.
“It should be taken into account that there are only 80 seats available for passengers compared to the 250 that an aircraft of the same type has,” it is stated in an email.
"To obtain profits, the ticket must be offered at high rate levels," he
adds.
Among the activities that are proposed instead of the commercial company, the humanitarian aid flights stand out;
study trips abroad;
support other agencies of the federal government;
transfer of consular and diplomatic missions;
and transportation of sports and cultural delegations, according to the documents consulted by Forbes magazine.
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AMLO explained that the new airline could be inaugurated as soon as 2023: “The presidential plane costs a lot to operate, we save all that.
By going to this company, it will also be rented for long flights, because it should not have been purchased for use in Mexico.
That plane, for it to be technically effective, for its use to be rational, has to have an average flight time of 5 hours."
"It would be nothing more than using it from here to Tijuana or even Cancun, because it is a transatlantic plane to go to Europe in 10 hours, without refueling," he added, "the acquisition was wrong, if the line is not made, it remains how is".