Mexicana resumes flights

MEXICO CITY, 6 January 2011 – Ailing Mexicana airline, which suspended all flights in August, will open ticket sales again on 24 January, but does not yet have a date to return to the skies, a transport official said Wednesday.

“The 24th is maintained as a start date for commercial operations, but not for aeronautical operations,” deputy transport secretary, Humberto Trevino, told a news conference after meeting with airline representatives, potential investors and government officials.

But Trevino said a deal for some US$200 million needed by one of the country’s two main airlines to return to the skies was close.

PC Capital, the main investment firm to express interest in Mexicana, has sought to join with other companies, including outside Mexico, to gather the financing. The investment has to be majority Mexican according to the law.

Mexicana was likely to return to a handful of popular national routes and to several destinations in the United States and Canada, according to the flight attendants’ union.

The company previously transported some 22,000 passengers on 220 daily flights, according to Mexicana.

The 89-year-old airline suspended all flights on August 28 and a judge later granted it bankruptcy protection.

It initially blamed its financial woes on the high cost of labour, after failing to reach a deal with unions on major cost-cutting.

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