The first airliner Sukhoi Superjet-100 arrived in late July at the international airport of the Mexican city of Toluca under a contract for the delivery of 20 SuperJet-100 airliners for a local airline Interjet. The flight of the airliner from Venice through Iceland, Canada, and the United States progressed as planned, according to the representatives of the air carrier and the crew of the airliner.

According to the agreement that Interjet signed with the SuperJet International (SJI), which is a joint venture of Alenia Aermacchi and the Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company, the Mexican air carrier will be able to receive all the required spare parts for the airliners directly from the manufacturer. Meanwhile, the commercial agreement also provides for the maintenance of the airliners.

“By putting the Sukhoi SuperJet-100 airliners into operation, we intend to expand substantially the number of flights and the flight routes in Mexico and the neighboring countries,” Interjet director Jose Luis Garza was quoted as saying. In his words, the Russian-Italian airliners will be used for flights to the U.S. and the countries in Central America and the Caribbean region. Garza noted that a second airliner Sukhoi SuperJet-100, which is ready for a flight from Venice, is expected to arrive in Toluca in seven to eight days. The Mexican airline will receive a third airliner of this type at the end of September. Subsequently, Interjet will be receiving one airliner per month.

These airliners will be based at large airports in Mexico, including those in Guadalajara, Monterrey, Cancun, and Tijuana, the director of the Mexican airline added. Interjet became the first airline in Latin America to purchase a batch order of the Sukhoi SuperJet-100 airliners. “This airliner model is absolutely suitable for the company in terms of its technical parameters,” Garza noted.