Concerns raised over management of Mexico City's airspace

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In the past year, there were at least 17 incidents of ground proximity warning system alerts for planes approaching Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport, according to a letter the International Air Transport Association, which represents some 290 airlines, wrote this week to the head of Mexican Airspace Navigation Services, the government agency responsible for managing the airspace. The International Air Transport Association's letter said the incidents had been reported "since the implementation of the first phase of the redesign of the Mexico Valley airspace.” The pilots' federation bulletin also mentioned air traffic controllers not using standard phraseology as a factor in the incidents and said, “It would appear that with the opening of this newly converted airport, has apparently received little training and support as to how to operate this new configuration in the airspace.” “Crews have received clearances that do not adhere to terrain avoidance restrictions” on routes used to approach the Benito Juárez airport, the bulletin said. It called on Mexican Airspace Navigation Services “to address Mexican and foreign pilots’ reports, seeking in the first place the safety of air operations and the efficiency of our airspace.” One year ago, U.S. regulators downgraded Mexico’s aviation safety rating, a move that prevents Mexican airlines from expanding flights to the United States. The International Air Transport Association letter alluded to that situation, noting that these incidents “without a doubt do not help in the process in which Mexico finds itself immersed, trying to recover its Category 1 that was withdrawn by the FAA last year.” Mexico’s National Air Transport Chamber called on the country’s aviation authorities “to address with the highest priority the reports that have been made to them for months and make known the diagnosis and the measures to mitigate the corresponding risks.” __ AP writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.