Aeromexico will in April deploy a B787-8 Dreamliner on its Mexico City to London Heathrow route, which is currently operated by a B767.
The airline currently has three Dreamliners in its fleet, the first of which was delivered in August, and is flying these between Mexico City and Tokyo (commenced October), New York (also October) and Paris (earlier this month).
Next year, two more B787-8s will be incorporated into the Aeromexico fleet, from a total of 19 B787s on order (nine B787-8s and ten B787-9s).
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The new deliveries will allow Aeromexico to introduce the Dreamliner on the Mexico City to Heathrow service in April, replacing the B767-200ER aircraft which doesn't have fully-flat beds in business class or seat-back IFE systems.
The Skyteam member plies the route three times a week, departing London on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays on AM008 at 2230, arriving the next day at 0525.
The return flight from Mexico City (AM007) leaves at 2235 on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, arriving at Heathrow the following day at 1515. In the New Year, the service will be upped to four times weekly.
Aeromexico's two-class B787 accommodates a total of 243 passengers with 32 in business and 211 in economy, which means there is an increase in capacity of 72 seats compared with the B767-200ER (171 seats).
So what can travellers expect? Business class occupies six rows (one to four, and then five and six in a separate cabin) arranged 2-2-2 (A-C, D-F, G-J), while economy is 3-3-3 (A-B-C, D-E-F, G-H-J) across rows eight to 21 and 23 to 33.
The forward-facing business class product (Clase Premier) reclines to a fully-flat bed, which is a great improvement to that of the B767-200ER's, which is only angled lie-flat. They also feature built-in 16-inch, Elite Panasonic HD in-flight entertainment systems, while economy has Eco Monitor touchscreens.
The system will offer all passengers movies and TV shows on-demand, real-time moving maps, a Jukebox application that allows passengers to programme playlists with a choice of the 1,500 songs, iConnect for iPod synching and Seat Chat to communicate with other passengers.
Aeromexico will be competing with British Airways (using a B747) on the London to Mexico City route, and hopes to lure more visitors to the destination as a result of the new aircraft and added connectivity, although Aeromexico does not offer premium economy.
At the moment, 80 per cent of traffic from the UK to Mexico goes to Cancun, but Aeromexico hopes it can encourage travel to its Mexico City hub to feed more traffic on to the 46 domestic destinations it serves with its Aeromexico Connect subsidiary.
Part of this may involve lower prices on the route. A spokesman for the airline said the introduction of the Dreamliner to the London route would mean a decrease in ticket prices "to fill the 72 extra seats on the aircraft and the additional service.”
Jenny Southan
