The incident alerts reported by pilots, airlines and air traffic controllers during the last year (after the reconfiguration of the country’s airspace) have forced the federal government, in addition to changing the head of the Airspace Navigation Services Mexicano (Seneam), accelerate the operation of the Metropolitan Airport System, which includes the airports of Mexico City, Santa Lucía, Toluca, Puebla and Morelos.
This matter was discussed this Monday in an unprecedented meeting that was held in the Ministry of the Interior, led by its head Adán Augusto López, in the company of his counterpart from the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), Jorge Arganis and representatives of Aeroméxico, VivaAerobus and Volaris. In addition to military linked to aviation.
The theme of the meeting was the airlines and their willingness to make certain moves to lower the super density that exists at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) and migrate some flights to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), in Toluca. (where there are now no passenger airline flights) and to other airports,” Undersecretary of Transportation, Rogelio Jiménez Pons, said in an interview on Radio Formula.
According to the official, reference was also made to the differences in the terminology used in the new airspace configuration, an issue that, from his point of view, is becoming something thorny that the private sector has already warned about.
“There are terms used by Canadian and American pilots, but for Europeans they are different. They are phraseologies that have to be pre-standardized because they have caused confusion and it is important to adjust”, she detailed.
Pons pointed out that mention was also made of the incident last Saturday at the AICM in which a Volaris plane had to return to the air to avoid an impact with another that was getting ready to take off on the same runway, which is currently under investigation. of the Federal Civil Aviation Agency.
Regarding the plan to “remove” 25% of operations per hour from the AICM (going from 61 maximum operations to 49) and thereby reduce the current saturation and other problems, he stated that it was put on the table to revive the Toluca airport, because it works well and the airlines already know about it.
“The project is to have distributed flights and we are already taking steps in that direction. The migration will start in August and not in July, as we had commented, because the companies asked to make the adjustment”, he added.
The SICT’s work program for this year includes the development of eight support analyzes in the areas of planning, finance and sustainability, aimed at improving the airports that make up the Metropolitan Airport System.
New manager of the Seneam
A couple of hours after the meeting ended, the SICT reported on its Twitter account that Ricardo Torres Muela was appointed as head of dispatch in the general direction of Navigation Services in the Mexican Air Space (Seneam).
“The official has 43 years of experience as an Air Traffic Controller and has a degree in Business Administration,” the agency added.
After various complaints against the previous director, Víctor Hernández, who began the current six-year term with said position, Jorge Arganis did not hesitate to accept his resignation.
Among the accusations made to him, the following stand out: little commitment to offer adequate training to air traffic controllers related to the implementation of the airspace, excessive workloads and not adequately reporting the notification of incidents that he received.
“There is a heavy workload and we have to create optimal conditions for the drivers. We know that there is a deficit of about 250 controllers in the country, there is greater fatigue, “added the Undersecretary of Transportation.