Interjet grounds half of SSJ100 fleet pending repairs

Interjet has grounded 11 Sukhoi Superjet 100s with stabiliser defects pending repairs. The aircraft were grounded after inspections of the 22 SSJ100s in Interjet’s fleet were completed Dec 27, Mexico’s civil aviation authority says. Repairs are scheduled to be complete by the end of January, the regulator says. The inspections occurred after a defect in the “stabiliser attachment bands” was found on one SSJ100, prompting an airworthiness directive from Russian authorities Dec 23. Sukhoi Superjet has said the stabiliser issue is not “critical” and has multiple redundancies that gives it a “safety margin which is more than twice the operational loads”. The Mexican regulator has authorised Interjet to operate one of its Airbus A321s on the 11 routes impacted by the SSJ100 grounding. <br/>