Mexican President Announces Mexico’s Return to FAA Category 1 Status Next Week

In his morning conference this Friday the 8th, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that Mexico will regain Category 1 in air safety by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States.

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This, López Obrador assured, was informally communicated to the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, by the United States Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, clarifying that the official announcement will take place next week.

«We are very grateful to President Biden. All the requirements were met and that is why they decide to return Mexico to that category. This is also a sign that the relations are very good,» said López Obrador.

Mexico had lost Category 1 in May 2021, which meant a harsh setback in the expansion of its commercial aviation industry towards its most important market, given that being in Category 2 implies the prohibition of establishing new services and routes.

See also: United States – Mexico: the numbers of the largest international air market in the region

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At that time, the FAA stated that during its reassessment of the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) from October 2020 to February 2021, it identified several areas of non-compliance with the minimum safety standards of ICAO.

This is not the first time the FAA has downgraded Mexico’s air safety rating: in July 2010, the FAA downgraded it to Category 2 and restored it to Category 1 in November of the same year. At that time, the Mexican government reported that the deficiency was not related to operational safety and was primarily due to a temporary shortage of flight inspectors.

The International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA) was established by the FAA in 1992, following the accident of Avianca Flight 52. The objective of the program is to evaluate adherence to the safety standards and practices established by ICAO and other international organizations. The program has two categories, according to whether a country meets the imposed requirements or not.

Airlines from category 2 countries can continue operating in the United States -if they were doing so before the downgrade- but are unable to expand their services to the country and to establish code-sharing agreements with US companies. In addition, they can be subjected to more exhaustive controls on the platform.