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General Aviation in Mexico by Rick Garner
Mexico has been a popular destination for general aviation (GA) pilots and aircraft owners for many years and for good reason. It’s a country abounding in natural resources, diverse geogra-
phy, a rich culture, incredible cuisine, fascinating history and a warm and welcoming people. The fact that it sits right on the US border makes it easy to reach by most GA aircraft. For many years, several individuals and flying organizations like CST Flight Services have collaborated with the heads of the different government agencies in Mexico that interact with US GA arrivals in an attempt to simplify and standardize the entry process. CST’s efforts over the years have been successful on a number of fronts such as: obtaining official notification from DGAC that US-issued insurance policies are valid
for private aircraft and that you do not have to
buy “special” Mexican insurance from third par-
ties, obtaining deferrals for almost 10 years for the requirement of 406 MHz ELTs, obtaining official permission for experimental category aircraft to enter Mexico in September of 2008 and again in Febru- ary 2021, and obtaining an alternate means of filing the Mexican Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) for private flights by sending an Excel template via email to Mexican Immigration.
New Political Landscape
As many are aware, there is a new political party in Mexico, led by the current president, that has swept into
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power at the federal, state, and municipal levels across the country. This new party has been making significant changes to laws and leadership across those institutions that interact with GA arrivals. The following is a summary of what those changes have been and how they impact GA to varying degrees at Mexican airports.
Changes to Agencies That Interact With GA
By decree, the Mexican Federal Police (Federales) were disbanded and replaced with a new entity called the National Guard (Guardia Nacional) which was formed in March 2019 and staffed primarily by military personnel. While still technically a civil organization, it is controlled by the military. Presently, the Guardia Nacional provides security at international airports and at many domestic airports in Mexico, and they are usually the first govern- ment agency that an arriving aircraft will encounter. Their degree of interaction with aircraft crews and passengers varies widely between Mexican airports.
Mexico’s Civil Aviation Authority formerly known by its acronym of the DGAC was also replaced by decree with the Agencia Federal de Aviación Civil (AFAC) in October 2019. During the transition process, the top leadership at the central level, as well as the airport comandancia level, were replaced by former military personnel, primarily from the Mexican Air Force. The AFAC is the agency that issues entry permits to foreign aircraft via their central office
and local offices at the Mexican international airports, and they are the ones who can conduct random ramp checks on air-
craft arriving at Mexican airports. In July 2021 another decree re- placed Mexican Customs with a new entity called Agencia Nacional de Aduanas de México (ANAM) which falls under the control of the Mexican military. The former civil servants that functioned as Customs officers were terminated and replaced by military personnel. Mexican Customs is present at all Mexican international airports and reviews crew and passenger luggage and cargo on arrival and
when departing the country.
On March 16, 2023, a new law, Ley de Protección del
Espacio Aéreo Mexicano (Mexican Airspace Protection Law), went into effect empowering the Mexican military to