MEXICO SHUTS DOWN THE MAJORITY OF ITS AIRPORTS FOR PUBLIC USE
With a single 2-page notice issued to all of its Comandantes (Oficio 4.1.443) on March 07, 2025, Mexico’s Civil Aviation Authority (AFAC) shut down the country’s airport system affecting hotels, Mexican air charter operators and disrupting travel plans for visiting US and Canadian pilots.
There are 77 airports listed in Mexico’s Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) and another 2,131 airports for fixed wing aircraft listed on the AFAC’s official airport database for a total of 2,208 total airports. Of the 2,131 airports that appear on the official AFAC list or airports, 2,119 are classified as “Service for Private Use” and 12 are classified as “Service for Private Use and 3’rd parties”. It is assumed that the 77 in the AIP are all for General Use (Cancun, Los Cabos, Toluca, Puerto Vallarta, etc). In the notice issued in March-2025, airports that are classified as “Service for Private Use” can ONLY be used by the airport owner and the only aircraft that can operate there are the airport owner’s aircraft. They have instructed all comandantes to deny flight plans to any of these airports or face severe disciplinary action.
Three weeks after issuing this notice, the AFAC backtracked and issued a new notice on March 27, 2025 (Oficio 4.1.645) which gave all airport owners 60 days to get their paperwork modified to show the authorized use to be “Service for Private Use and 3’rd parties”. Those of us familiar with how paperwork at Mexico’s AFAC progresses wondered just how they would be able to process the paperwork for 2,119 of the country’s airports in just 60 days. Suffice it to say that the vast majority of airports either did not even try, or their paperwork is stuck somewhere in the bowels of the AFAC.
Consequently, this prevents any Mexican or foreign registered aircraft to fly to many popular destinations which will have a significant negative affect on hotels that have airstrips such as Hacienda de los Santos, Holbox, Punta Pescadero, etc.) and will also have a huge negative effect on Mexican air taxi operators who fly to many of those airstrips. It will also prevent any type of flight to rural communities that might depend on their airstrips for medical and other assistance such as "Doctors Without Borders".
This situation opens the possibility for some pilots to be tempted to adopt a procedure that had been promoted in the past by some aviation groups that could allow them to get to fly to these airstrips. As all international arrivals into Mexico must land at a Mexican Airport Of Entry (AOE), pilots will be required to present themselves to the Mexican AFAC at those airports to complete the entry formalities. In order to fly to another airport, a pilot must then file a flight plan which must be approved by the AFAC and that is where the destination airport is vetted, and the flight plan is either approved or denied by the AFAC. The “trick” that some pilots have used in the past is to file a flight plan to a non-towered airport that is acceptable to fly to and where the AFAC is not present. Once airborne, they actually fly to the airport they wish to fly to. As there was nobody at the airport filed in the flight plan to notify that the aircraft never arrived, nobody is the wiser that the aircraft actually flew to a different destination. While it may work, the pilot has falsified a federal document and could be detected in the air, or on the ground, of the falsification resulting in serious charges. In addition, they may also be giving their insurance company a very valid reason to deny coverage if there is an accident, or incident, where damages need to be paid.
While this fiasco is creating a very difficult and harmful condition for tourism and for
businesses in Mexico, don’t let yourself be convinced to utilize a scheme that involves
falsifying information in order to fly to your desired destination. If you do, you may find
that your stay (and that of your aircraft) in Mexico may be extended far beyond what you
had planned and that the cost of your trip will far exceed what you had expected..
