Simple Flying - Daniel Martinez Garbuno
The country has remained in Category 2 status for over two years.
This week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) held a new International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) audit in Mexico and could reportedly restore the country’s Category 1 status. No official announcement has been made by either the FAA or Mexico’s Civil Aviation Federal Agency (AFAC).
The FAA downgraded Mexico to Category 2 in May 2021. At the time, the agency announced that the government of Mexico did not meet International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety standards. For the last two years, the Mexican civil aviation agency has been working towards restoring Category 1 status. In the meantime, local carriers have been unable to launch new routes or deploy new planes in services to the United States, among other restrictions.
On Friday, the Mexican newspaper El Financiero reported the IASA audit was complete, and the FAA did not make any new findings, which is good news for recovering Category 1 status. Nonetheless, this is only a preliminary out-of-the-record report, and neither the FAA nor AFAC have made public announcements. Simple Flying reached the FAA to comment on the story. The agency said, “We continue to provide assistance to Mexico’s civil aviation authority.”
