From November 1 to 5, the AFAC will have a fourth technical assistance visit by the US FAA, in which Rodríguez hopes that the agency will be able to present enough elements to request a technical review, which will eventually lead to the return from Mexico. to Category 1 of the International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA).
“Nap [visita] it goes well, the next step would be a new audit that would allow us to aspire to recover Category 1 ”, he said.
Of the observations made by the FAA –among which are changes in the Civil Aviation Law and an increase in salaries for technical personnel, among others–, the director of the AFAC said that “in the majority, steps have been taken to correct them. ”. This has been the case of the updating of the Mexican aeronautical registry law or regulation. Among the missing are the regulations of the civil aviation law and licenses.
“One of them is already in the legal department of the Executive, that means that it is only going to a final review, the signature of the president is obtained and it is published in the Official Gazette. The other is leaving Conamer, and the next step is for it to be sent to the legal firm, and go through the same procedure. That is practically out of the actions that the AFAC can do, but it is moving forward ”, explained Rodríguez.
The official affirmed that there has been a salary increase from 30% to 40% for aeronautical technical personnel, such as inspectors and airport commanders, where there is already an approval from the Ministry of Finance, but it has not yet been reflected in practice .
Rodríguez pointed out that around 160 million pesos have been invested to comply with the observations of the FAA, which also seeks long-term certainties. “What the FAA administrator told us is that they are interested in having the certainty that not only the findings found in the audit are solved, but that a system is established that guarantees that this continues over time” he explained.
