The recovery of Category 1 in terms of air safety by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will bring many benefits for Mexican airlines in terms of expansion possibilities to that key market. One of them is the ability to register new aircraft with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) and add capacity on high-demand route flights.
One of the airlines that will benefit immediately is Aeroméxico. According to the Cirium platform, Aeroméxico plans to deploy its 737 MAX 9 aircraft on the most popular U.S. destinations.
Before regaining category 1, Aeroméxico could only operate with aircraft approved by the DoT that had U.S. or Irish registration numbers (with the letters «N» and «EI«). The airline had to operate some planes of each model with these registrations to be able to fly between the United States and Mexico.
Aeroméxico’s fleet restriction was mainly due to the new 737 MAX aircraft that had been incorporated into its fleet. With the MAX 8 variant, they could only operate eight planes in the United States. The MAX 9 variant aircraft could not do so despite having seven with registration «N» (November), as the model was not registered with the DoT.
Scheduling of the 737 MAX 9 in the United States
Now, with the return to category 1, Aeroméxico has registered its 737 MAX 9 aircraft with the DoT and plans to deploy them on the highest demand routes.
According to reports from the Cirium platform, the largest planes in the 737 MAX family will operate routes from Mexico City to the following destinations:
- Denver (DEN), starting in November 2023.
- Chicago (ORD), starting in November 2023.
- Los Angeles (LAX), starting in December 2023.
- Las Vegas (LAS), starting in December 2023.
- Miami (MIA), starting in December 2023.
- Orlando (MCO), starting in December 2023.
- San Francisco (SFO), starting in November 2023.
This recategorization allows the Mexican company to begin modernizing its fleet by using the 737 MAX 9 on higher density and range routes. As a result, the 737 MAX 8 will be available for lower demand routes or for use in the off-season, optimizing the airline’s operating costs.
Aeroméxico has a fleet of 18 737 MAX 9 aircraft, configured to carry 181 passengers in two cabins, while the airline’s 33 MAX 8 aircraft can accommodate up to 166 passengers in two classes.
