FAA to help Mexico upgrade its safety rating

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will lend technical assistance to Mexico’s civil aviation regulator (Agencia Federal de Aviacion Civil – AFAC) to help the country reclaim its Category 1 safety rating, Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation announced.

This followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between both regulating authorities on July 23, under which terms the FAA will send a group of experts to Mexico in August. They will conduct a technical review to determine if AFAC’s safety supervision complies with the minimum standards required in “Annexes One, Six, and Eight of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), of which Mexico has been a part since 1994”, the ministry said in a statement. The FAA specialists will draft a report of their findings and recommendations for improvement. Annex One of the Chicago Convention deals with personnel licensing; Annex Six with the operation of aircraft; and Annex Eight with the airworthiness of aircraft.

The FAA had downgraded Mexico’s safety rating from Category 1 to Category 2 in May, following an audit of AFAC between October 2020 and April 2021 that revealed several infractions with minimum safety standards as prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The regulator at the time did not publicly name the shortcomings.

The recovery of Category 1 in the shortest possible time is a priority to guarantee safety standards in the interest of tourism and all areas of air transport and airport services, the ministry said, expressing confidence that a positive result would be obtained in the short term.

It said the aviation sector in Mexico would be kept fully informed about the work carried out and the progress made. The intention was to avoid any adverse impact on flights between Mexico and the US during the coming high season.

As previously reported, the current downgrade means that US-flagged carriers are no longer allowed to add new routes to Mexico, nor may they code-share on flights operated by Mexican carriers, although they can maintain existing in-house flights to the country.