Early 2000s
In the period between the years 2000 and 2002, 13 more Saab 340Bs were added to replace Metros, with a peak fleet of 22 Saab 340Bs. On the third quarter of 2001, services to San Diego via Mexicali, to Zacatecas via Puerto Vallarta, and Monterrey were launched. Nevertheless, these services were discontinued shortly after 9/11 Attacks. On September 6, 2001, there was an accident without any fatalities, it was a Saab 340 with registration XA-ACK which crash-landed 15 miles southeast of Tijuana. The airplane suffered fuel starvation, due to a false indication in the flight deck fuel gauges, caused by a defective element on the system, reflecting more fuel than the aircraft actually had.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Aerolitoral experienced a drop in air traffic and downsized the fleet in order to survive. Services to San Diego, El Paso, and Laredo were canceled. San Antonio, Phoenix, and Tucson were reduced, moreover with the growth of Aviacsa on the domestic market with its Boeing 737-200 fleet invading the most profitable routes from Monterrey to León, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, and Guadalajara. The small commuter experienced severe financial troubles, and in 2002, many employees were laid off, among them 50 pilots. In 2002, services to Los Angeles and Ontario, California were introduced on behalf of Aeroméxico, while services to Phoenix and Laredo were cancelled.
In early 2003, with a fleet of 3 Fairchild Metroliners and 22 Saab 340s, the load factors were recovering as with many other airlines around the globe. That same year, Aerolitoral announced the acquisition of the first 5 Embraer ERJ 145, with deliveries starting in mid 2004. In December 2003, after operating a peak fleet for 13 years with 28 planes, the last Metroliners were retired. Early the next year, the first 3 ERJ 145's arrived from Brazil to Monterrey and started to replace the Saabs on the routes from Monterrey lasting over 1 hour, 50 minutes. The first flights were mainly to Chihuahua, Guadalajara, and Ciudad Juárez, and two of the same aircraft were added later that year. In this same year, a wet lease contract from was signed between Aerocaribe and AeroLitoral. The agreement stated that Aerolitoral would provide service in the routes on the South East of the country on behalf of Aerocaribe. The contract covered the wet lease of 3 Saab 340s operating the routes to Mérida, Tuxla Gutierrez, and the shuttle between Cancún and Cozumel. The agreement lasted a year and ended in late May 2005.
