At the end of February it was announced the opening of a new Mexican airline called Aerus, which will offer private transportation services of the “executive cab” type and will operate in the Merida Airport, connecting with the north of the country and the Mexican Caribbean.
Aerotransportes Rafilher S.A. de C.V., a company from Monterrey, will seek to connect the Yucatan Peninsula with the northern Gulf of Mexico by the end of this month.
The company’s initial plan is to offer flights from Monterrey to Tamaulipas, Texas and Merida, but in the near future it will turn the Yucatan capital’s air terminal into a connectivity hub to offer this type of private flights to the Gulf Coast area, including the port of Veracruz, as well as taking aircraft to Cancun and Chetumal.
These short routes are intended to be carried out with single and twin-engine airplanes with turbo propeller, as well as electric units that would be unique in their type for commercial flights.
Aerus will invest 98 million dollars (approximately 1,764 million pesos) to acquire a fleet of 14 aircraft, including two Cessna Sky Curiel and seven Cessna Grand Caravan EX, with a capacity of up to 19 passengers.
The company has been operating privately for 30 years in Monterrey and offers regional flights for individuals who need to get from the Sultana del Norte to a nearby city in a short time and, of course, can pay its fares.
But it was not until 2021 that the company was able to present a business plan to the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) in Mérida, with which it was granted the concession to operate as an airline.
According to data from the Israeli company Eviation Aircraft, Aerus also acquired at least 30 electric airplanes, known as Eviation Alice. This is a nine-seater aircraft, which is the world’s first fully electric, flight-tested commuter aircraft.
Information provided on its website shows that the Alice model is 95 percent made of composite materials and has a fly-by-wire flight system, powered by three propeller engines (two in the wingtips and one in the rear part of the fuselage).
Among its general characteristics, this aircraft has capacity for a crew of two (pilot and co-pilot) and nine passengers, whose weight must not exceed 1,250 kilos.
It is 12.2 meters long and has a wingspan of 16.12 meters.
The Alice has the capacity to travel at a cruising speed of 482 kilometers per hour (km/h) at an altitude of 10,000 feet, and its maximum speed is 630 km/h.
TYT Newsroom
