Mexico’s Interjet sees return to skies in 2022 with Czech planes

The embattled Mexican airline Interjet is planning a return to operations by next year with a new fleet comprised of 10 Airbus A320 jets and potentially 10 Czech-made Let L-410 planes. The plan to fly again depends on the company’s ability to navigate a “distressed investing” strategy that will be separated into three tranches, said insolvency specialist Ivan Romo, who is helping with Interjet’s restructuring. The company is in talks with four firms for close to $750 million in financing, Romo said. Interjet is seeking as much as $50 million in a first tranche in order to restart operations next year. That would be followed two separate tranches totaling as much as $700m over five to 10 years. The company’s current liabilities are 40b pesos ($1.8b), and the largest creditors are the government and lessors, incoming CEO Luis Federico Bertrand said. The airline owes close to $700m in back taxes but expects to reach an agreement with the government to reduce this amount. Interjet hasn’t flown a plane in nearly a year after the pandemic slammed the travel industry hard. Covid proved too much for the airline, which was already in trouble before the crisis hit. Shareholders approved a filing for bankruptcy protection in April. <br/>