Mexico's effort to regain the Category 1 of aviation safety rating has to wait , as the meeting was canceled last-minute by the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA).
The meeting had been scheduled as part of a plan to recover the coveted Category 1 air safety rating given by the FAA, which was downgraded for Category 2 (the lowest level) in May 2021.
Sources say, Arrival of Billy Noen, the acting head of the FAA , in Mexico City has been canceled due to NOTAM system collapse on Tuesday that forced pilots, airlines and airports in the United States to pause their departures.
The Mexican aviation agency Agencia Federal de Aviación Civil (AFAC) released a statement saying,
“The FAA requested to reschedule the meeting and make the visit to Mexico as soon as possible.”
On 28 October 2022 , a Reuters report read that Mexico was making progress towards recovering its Category 1 aviation rating, but the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not yet approved its plan as claimed earlier by the Mexican government.
Recently, Mexico had to witness the widespread violence by the Drug Cartel , targetting the Aviation installations and aircraft , due to which multiple flights got canceled citing security concerns.
The Mexican Foreign Ministry reported earlier that it had agreed with the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on a roadmap whose ultimate goal would be to return that range to the Mexican air sector in the summer of 2023.
The continued downgrade affects the market accessibility of the Mexican carriers , specifically Aeromexico and Volaris getting affected due to the restricted U.S.A. market. Only a few other countries are currently rated Category 2 by the FAA , that includes Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia.
Mexican government has been putting efforts to regain the Safety rating , for which it has held meetings with airlines and other related agencies to redistribute flights between old and the newly opened Felipe Angeles International Airport, located in the outskirts of Mexico City.
In another development, the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) has imposed a fine on carrier Volaris for not reducing its operations by 15% in Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez (AICM) , this as part of the decongestion of terminals T1 and T2 , the fine was decided to be 40 million pesos.
According to a December 2022 statement of Jorge Nuño Lara, the Minister of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport , a final FAA audit is expected for February after which a decision on whether Mexico can recover Category 1 would be reached. The rating would be then granted by April.
Current FAA visit cancelation might make a shift of the scheduled actions , hence further delay to regain the Category-1 Aviation safety rating , and the result is, Mexican domestic carriers suffer more.
Similar Story....
