US cuts Mexico's aviation safety rating, curbing new flights

U.S. regulators have downgraded Mexico's aviation safety rating, a move that prevents Mexican airlines from expanding flights to the United States just as travel is recovering from the pandemic.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it downgraded Mexico after finding that the country does not meet standards set by a United Nations aviation group.

The downgrade means that U.S. airlines won't be able to sell tickets on flights operated by Mexican airlines, a setback that will mainly hit Delta Air Lines, which has a partnership with Aeromexico.

Delta said its own service to Mexico is not affected by the downgrade, and it will continue to operate all its flights there normally. Delta might have to issue new tickets, however, to customers who used Delta to book a flight operated by Aeromexico.

Aeromexico said its flights won’t be affected, and it will work with Mexican regulators to reverse the downgrade.

“At Aeromexico, safety is our top priority and because of that we will continue to operate under the highest international standards,” the airline tweeted.

Volaris tweeted that the downgrade was related to factors "outside the control of Mexican airlines.”

Mexico has been by far the most popular international destination for Americans during the pandemic. In the first two months of this year, U.S. citizens took more than 800,000 trips to Mexico, accounting for 42% of all foreign air travel by Americans in that period, according to figures from the U.S. Commerce Department.

Most of those flights are operated by U.S. airlines. Five Mexican carriers are scheduled to operate 6,152 flights — 27% of the total — between the two countries next month, according to data from research firm Cirium.

FAA safety ratings of other countries are designed to measure those...