Interjet (AIJ, Toluca) and manufacturer Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (Zhukovsky) have independently issued statements denying an earlier report that the airline has grounded four of its twenty-two SSJ 100/955s and that it would cannibalise them for parts to keep the other eighteen jets flying, RBC.ru reported.
"We are extremely surprised that the journalist did not mention in her article that the program of large-scale maintenance of aircraft will soon be completed and they will resume flights during the period from January 16 to March 31 of this year," the Mexican carrier said, referring to an earlier article by Bloomberg based on an interview with CEO Jose Luis Garza.
Speaking to AIN, Sukhoi's Senior Vice President Commercial Stewart Cordner confirmed that there have been some delays with the SSJ100's engine maintenance at Interjet, but underlined they were not serious and did not exceed the norm for a relatively new type.
Cordner explained that of all Interjet's SSJ100s, one is grounded for regular maintenance, one has still not been repaired since a ground accident in 2015, and two further await engine replacement expected by the end of March.
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).
