Interjet awarded the contract in January 2011 for 15 units but the number of planes ordered later increased to 20, with 10 options. The aircraft's supplier is Russo-Italian joint venture SuperJet International, which Venice facility is used for installation of the passenger cabin interior from Italian design bureau Pininfarina, aircraft painting as well as flying and ground crew training. The Mexico-operated Superjet's cabin seats 93 passengers in economy class, but has an unusually long pitch - 34 inches (864 mm) - owing to thinner seats and has an entertainment system.

The first two Superjets (MSN 95023 and 95024) were flown to Mexico in summer 2013 and kicked off commercial operations on 18 September 2013 following the relevant commissioning procedures. Late last year, Interjet received two more aircraft - MSN 95028 and 95036.

Since the very beginning of the Superjet operation, Interjet has performed very well owing to the effective after-sales support system provided by SuperJet International and to the wealth of Interjet's experience in minimising downtime at airports. Suffice it to say that during the first four months of the SSJ100 operations in Mexico, the monthly flight time per aircraft had averaged 210 flight hours (6.9 h a day) and each of the airliners had flown an average of 194 times a month (6.4 flights a day), with the average flight duration standing at about an hour.

Over the 10 months in 2014, Interjet has commissioned seven Superjets more, with its SSJ100 fleet numbering 11 units now. The 10th aircraft (MSN 95048) was handed over to the customer and headed for Mexico on 3 October 2014. Three weeks later it was followed by another airliner (MSN 95046). Several Superjets more are anticipated in Mexico before year-end. Two of them (MSN 95049 and 95052) are on the premises of SuperJet International and five more are at the test base of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, where they are being groomed for handover to Venice. The two final aircraft are being manufactured in Komsomolsk-on-Amur under the current contract with Interjet. The airline counts on having all of its 20 Superjets as soon as summer 2015.

The yearlong flight operations in Mexico are a good cause for summing up the results produced by Russian advanced airliner SSJ100 in service with Interjet. The nine planes have logged in excess of 11,400 passenger flights equalling a total of 12,000-plus flying hours. The daily flight time of some of the Superjets exceeded 11 h at times. The lead aircraft (MSN 95023) has logged more than 2,400 flying hours on 2,300 sorties. As far as uptime is concerned, the SSJ100 is virtually on a par with the Airbus A320 medium-haul airliner long used by Interjet. After a year in service, the Superjet's uptime has 99% at the least.

The route network the SSJ100s operate on in Mexico comprises 39 lines stemming mostly from Mexico-City and from Monterrey, Toluca, Guadalajara and Leon as well. The Mexican Superjets fly to airports sitting in mountainous terrain, including those at over 2,200 m above sea level. The longest flight - from Mexico-City to Tijuana - takes 3 h 10 min. Interjet's SSJ100s started scheduled Monterrey - San Antonio, Tx., operations on 12 September 2014, with another US-bound service - Monterrey to Houston - was expected to be launched on 23 October.

Interjet is the first Western SSJ100 customer to see the contract it had awarded make it to actual deliveries and commercial operations. The SSJ100's prospects on the Western market depend heavily on the success of the contract and the results produced by Superjets in Mexico. The results produced by the Mexican SSJ100s in the first year of commercial passenger services have been more than good. Hopefully, the Mexican experience will both pave the way to new foreign customers for the SSJ100 and serve a good example to follow by the airliner's Russian users.