The airline Mexicana de Aviación, relaunched in 2023 by the government of Mexico, is being sued in a Manhattan court by the company SAT Aero Holdings.
The Texas-based company claims that Mexicana hired it last year to negotiate the lease of Boeing 737 jets that would be used in the state carrier’s flight network.
SAT is seeking US$838.5 million in compensation for having performed services such as obtaining aircraft and related insurance, and recruiting and training pilots and crew.
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According to Reuters, the Mexican Ministry of Defense, to which Mexicana is responsible, claimed to have no knowledge of the legal process.
Mexicana de Aviación was a private airline, among the oldest operating in the world when it went bankrupt in 2010.
After years of impasse, the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador purchased the rights to the brand and relaunched it in August 2023 with the proposal to be an airline with more affordable prices.
The initial plan was to have ten leased Boeing 737-800s, however, difficulties in finding the aircraft forced Mexicana to debut with three jets borrowed from the Air Force in addition to two ERJ 145s under wet-leasing from the company TAR.
Mexicana’s debut took place on December 27, but the flight network is still small compared to that of its private rivals.
To change the scenario, López Obrador promised an agreement for up to 20 jets by October, when his term ends. Embraer was appointed as the supplier of the planes, but so far there has been no announcement about it.
