The main risk of this warning is that it reduces the attractiveness of flying in Mexico, thus reducing the possibility of increasing the country’s aerial connection.
Air security in Mexico has once again been in the world care center. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has expressed concerns about security in the country, including Mexico in a ‘blacklist’, together with Russia, Zimbabwe, democratic republic of Congo, Ecuador, Liberia, Armenia and Bután.
ICAO said in the text that the concerns focus on air navigation services, specifically on the lack of update in the RadioAyudas flight inspections, used to determine the position of an airplane in the air with respect to a station on land , helping the pilot to navigate in any meteorological condition and to establish waiting patterns and precise approaches.
Captain Francisco Gómez Ortigoza, treasurer of the College of Aviator Pilots of Mexico, explains that services to the Mexican airspace navigation is responsible for its installation, operation, verification and maintenance.
“They do it very efficiently. If these navigation grants did not work or were inaccurate, we would know immediately, since we are the first to use them and require a high degree of precision. They work very well. The problem here is that the Authority has not certified its correct functioning;
It emphasizes that, if these systems do not work, most flights would not be done due to security problems. However, “there are issues with the authority that are not being resolved, and that is what is being pointed out.”
The ICAO document, internally issued for ICAO Member States and subsequently filtered by local agencies in the sector, states that because important operational security concerns in Mexico have not been resolved, the agency has approved notifying all the member states.
What does it imply for Mexico to be on that blacklist?
According to Captain Gómez Ortigoza, the main risk of this warning is that it reduces the attraction of flying in Mexico, thus reducing the possibility of increasing the country’s aerial connection.
“I would consider that in Mexico there is a level of risk certified by an international authority. Then, I must decide whether to increase, decrease or maintain insurance premiums. Likewise, aircraft landlords, user public and tourism secretariats from other countries also They must make decisions, “he maintains.
The situation arises after, in September of last year, the Federal Administration of Aviation of the United States (FAA) formalized the recovery of category 1 in air security for Mexico.
So far, the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) has not issued any statement in this regard. According to Gerardo Herrera, an air sector and professor analyst at the Ibero -American University, this lack of response represents a potential risk to maintain category 1, which allows Mexican airlines to expand their shared codes and increase their route offer in the United States.
“I have not seen any response from the authority indicating that they will address this issue. They should have immediately communicated to reassure everyone, but there is no positioning,” he adds.
Since presidential elections will be held in Mexico in less than two weeks, the specialist expresses its concern that ICAO warning has no effect and measures are not taken in this regard. This could result in, “at any time, FAA performs an audit and Mexico again descend to category 2”.
“This deficiency and attention call places us in a marginal group of very lagging countries, whose practices hardly comply The United States and Canada, “he concludes.
Source: expansion
