The state-owned airline Mexicana de Aviación announced this week that it has placed an order for 20 new airplanes from the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer that will allow it to expand and begin flying to international destinations outside Mexico.

That’s all big news for the new airline, which had been searching high and low for ways to increase and modernize its fleet and expand its offered national and international cities since opening its doors in 2023. Embraer is the world’s third-largest commercial aircraft producer, following Airbus and Boeing.

Deliveries of the planes are scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2025.

“With this strategic decision, [Mexicana] will increase and modernize its fleet to strengthen the connectivity of more cities with various national and international destinations,” Mexicana’s press release issued Monday noted.

Mexicana was a private Mexican international airline for many years before declaring bankruptcy in 2010. The new Mexicana de Aviación is not the same airline, but President Lopez Obrador’s government purchased the brand name and brought it back into operation six months ago. The airline is run by the Defense Ministry (Sedena).

Less than four months ago, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador lamented to reporters that the fledgling airline was in a bind due to high worldwide demand for new aircraft.

“It is not easy to buy airplanes,” he said at the time, noting that although orders could be placed now, no new airplanes could be delivered before 2028.

Now, thanks to the new contract with Embraer, Mexicana will begin receiving new planes between April and June of 2025.

The airline is buying 10 new E195-E2 aircraft (with 132 seats each) and 10 new E190-E2 aircraft (with 108 seats each) — allowing the airline operated by the Defense Ministry (Sedena) to begin offering international destinations to customers.

Mexicana will be the first operator in Mexico of Embraer E2 aircraft, “whose cutting-edge technology will allow fuel savings and lower maintenance costs,” the Mexicana press release noted.

All of the new airplanes will have a single-class layout, which means there will be no first-class or business-class seating on Mexicana planes. 

According to Mexicana, since its “restart” on Dec. 26, 2023, it has transported more than 115,000 passengers to 18 destinations throughout Mexico. The airline, however, was also hit with a US $840 million lawsuit just three months after completing its first flight.

SAT Aero Holdings, a Texas-based firm hired by the Mexican government to provide a range of services to Mexicana filed the breach-of-contract lawsuit in U.S. federal court in New York.

With reports from Proceso and Sin Embargo