Mexico Regains Highest US Air-Safety Rating After Two Years

Carolina Gonzalez
·1 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico recovered the highest level of aviation safety rating from the US Federal Aviation Administration, more than two years after losing its Category 1.

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“The FAA provided expertise and resources via technical assistance agreements to Mexico’s Agencia Federal de Aviacion Civil (AFAC) to resolve the safety issues that led to the downgrade,” the FAA said in a statement Thursday. “The agency sent a team of aviation safety experts multiple times over the last two years to assist with the work.”

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg informed Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Minister Alicia Barcena that the country had its status reinstated last week. With the upgrade, Mexico can now add new routes to the US, and US airlines can resume marketing and selling tickets with their names and designator codes on Mexican-operated flights, according to the statement.

Read more: Mexico to Regain US Air-Safety Rating After Two-Year Lapse

The FAA downgraded Mexico’s rating to Category 2 in May 2021 after finding the country did not meet safety standards. The country was also downgraded by FAA in 2010, but was reinstated within several months.

“It’s ironic that the return to Category 1 status happened almost at the same time as the new slot restrictions at AICM,” said aviation consultant Fabricio Cojuc during a Bloomberg Intelligence webinar on the Mexican aviation industry. “But we can expect a sizeable increase of flights to the US from AICM.”

US-traded shares of low cost airline Volaris reversed losses to rise 1.76% on the news.

--With assistance from Dale Quinn.

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