Mexico’s Viva Aerobus has postponed the start of seven routes, including services from Mexico City’s new airport, citing delayed Airbus A320neo aircraft deliveries.
The ULCC said supply chain issues at Airbus and engine provider Pratt & Whitney are causing the delays and forcing Viva Aerobus to postpone route launches.
Four of the postponed routes are from the new Mexico City Felipe Angeles International Airport (NLU), which opened in March. The routes, which had been slated to commence this month, include NLU to Acapulco (ACA), Oaxaca City (OAX) and Puerto Escondido (PXM) in Mexico, as well as to Havana (HAV) in Cuba.
Also planned to start this month and scrapped for now: a domestic service between Toluca (TLC) and Monterrey (MTY). Additionally, planned September launches of domestic routes from TLC to Merida (MID) and Puerto Vallarta (PVR) have been pushed back.
New route launch dates were not disclosed.
The Aviation Week Fleet Discovery database shows that Viva Aerobus has 56 aircraft in service, including 17 A320neos and 11 A321neos. It has 34 A321neos on order.
Viva Aerobus is currently serving Guadalajara (GDL) and MTY daily from NLU. CEO Juan Carlos Zuazua told Routes earlier this year that NLU will ease air traffic congestion in Mexico City as a complement to Juárez Airport (MEX), but noted the new airport still needs a good deal of infrastructure to be built to reach its full potential, explaining: “It’s going to take a bit of time to see the real value of this airport.”
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