A little over a year after emerging from bankruptcy proceedings in the US, the Mexican airline Aeroméxico is redoubling its commitment to shake off the economic debacle that almost led it to bankruptcy.
To serve more domestic and international routes in Europe, Asia and South America, the company has launched an ambitious fleet renewal plan to close this year with 150 aircraft, of which 20 will be Boeing 787 Dreamliner long-range aircraft and 50 aircraft 737 Max.
In the lease and purchase of these aircraft, as well as in the development of products and technology, the company plans to spend about 5,000 million dollars over the next five years.
Aeroméxico, like all airlines in the world, suffered the hit of the pandemic.
At the height of the coronavirus crisis, some 90 company planes were practically parked.
The silence of those moments has now given way to the roar of the turbines and the howling of the forklift in the Aeroméxico Oriente hangar, next to the Mexico City airport.
In this operations center, around 1,200 employees follow the course of one of the newest fleets in the skies.
On board one of the 787-9 Dreamliners, which the company has just received, Aeroméxico's senior maintenance engineer, Gustavo Peláez Navarrete, explains that this type of aircraft is unique in its kind because more than 50% of its manufacture is of composite materials, a characteristic that makes it lighter and, therefore, more efficient in its fuel consumption.
“The fuselage and the wings are made of carbon fiber and fiberglass, mainly.
Some elements of titanium and aluminum remain, as in previous versions, but the novelty of this aircraft is the composite material.
Being built with much lighter materials and this means that being such a light aircraft we spend less fuel, fuel consumption is reduced by up to 20% compared to aircraft of the same line or of the same size,
Exterior of the new Dreamliner 787-9 aircraft. Nadya Murillo
The company has a fleet of 20 Dreamliners 787 aircraft. In Mexico it is the only airline that operates aircraft of this type.
“The manufacture of this type of aircraft is done in different parts of the world, but everything is assembled in South Carolina, United States, at the Boeing factory in Charleston and some sections are made in Washington.
There are also some parts that are made in Italy, Japan and central Europe, but they are minimal.
There is some equipment that is leased and some that is owned by the company”, says Pelaez Navarrete.
The engineer abounds that these machines are used for international routes because they have a range of up to 15,000 kilometers and a capacity of 274 passengers.
Thus, these aircraft under the Aeroméxico logo are already flying the skies of Japan, South Korea, Spain, France, Brazil, Argentina, among others.
Justo Gutiérrez, a maintenance engineer for the Boeing 737 Max aircraft operated by Aeroméxico, adds that the new versions of this type of aircraft are also more efficient in terms of fuel consumption due to engine innovations.
These teams will be used mainly in Latin America, Canada and some longer distance routes in Mexico, for example, Mexico City-Tijuana.
Depending on the model, it has a capacity of 166 and 181 passengers.
The Boeing 737 suffered a loss of reliability in the world in 2019 after two fatal accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia, however, the engineer says that the manufacturer in all these years has already corrected safety problems and these new versions have a degree of reliability above 99%.
"Aeroméxico is the fourth airline in the world with the largest Max fleet and reliability does not drop below 99%, it is a safe plane to continue flying," he mentions.
The company has 50 aircraft of this type and a new aircraft is expected to arrive in the next three weeks.
The renewal of the company's air fleet is in line with the recovery in demand that the airline has gradually registered.
In the first quarter of 2023, Aeroméxico increased its passenger transport by 39%, compared to the same period last year.
From January to March, more than 5.7 million national and international travelers boarded their planes.
Interior of the new plane of the airline Aeroméxico, Dreamliner 787-9, in Mexico City. Nadya Murillo
The Aeroméxico maintenance base, to the east of the capital, has been recovering a dynamism that was still in suspense until a year ago.
From its beginnings, in 1934, as Aeronaves de México, to the iconic image of Pope John Paul II getting off an aircraft with a metal fuselage and orange letters on his first visit to the country in 1979, they give an account of his career of almost 90 years. , a story that was almost cut short a few months ago in the face of severe financial turbulence, but which they now plan to leave behind thanks to these new teams.
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