The Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT)

• SICT chief Jorge Nuño Lara led the culmination of meetings held this week to review progress with US FAA experts
• A videoconference has been proposed between January 6 and 9, 2023, prior to meeting with Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen.
• They endorsed the commitment to maintain communication between the two parties to record progress

Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT) Jorge Nuño Lara led the culmination of meetings with experts from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) held this week to review the progress of Category 1 recovery in aviation safety.

The work was carried out with the advice of North American aviation safety specialists, Jeffrey Richardson, Julio Arizmendi and Randall Wrigt, who since last Monday were in person at the offices of the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC ), as well as Lou Álvarez and Jacqueline Serrao, remotely from FAA headquarters in Washington DC.

Accompanied by the Undersecretary of Transport, Rogelio Jiménez Pons, and the Director General of AFAC, Miguel Enrique Vallín Osuna, the head of SICT, together with the American experts, evaluated the actions taken by Mexico before the recategorization, as well as the proposal for a videoconference to be held between January 6 and 9, 2023, prior to meeting with Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen.

Group Coordinator Jeffrey Richardson thanked the AFAC work team for delivering all progress documentation and stressed that they will continue to work in a coordinated manner to resolve outstanding issues.

The Undersecretary of Transport, Rogelio Jiménez Pons, and the Director General of AFAC, Miguel Enrique Vallín Osuna, thanked the Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport, Jorge Nuño Lara, for the willingness with which they have worked jointly with the FAA over the past five days, feedback that served to present the state of progress, for which they endorsed the commitment to maintain this communication.

The FAA team commented that the relationship with AFAC will continue continuously remotely and with personnel from both parties to support audits in the coming months and that Mexico can recover Category 1 as soon as possible, as is the objective of the MTS holder.

After the meeting, the work progress signature was signed by the Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport, Jorge Nuño Lara; the Undersecretary for Transport, Rogelio Jiménez Pons; the Director General of AFAC, Miguel Enrique Vallín Osuna; and FAA experts Jeffrey Richardson and Julio Arizmendi.

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