President Claudia Sheinbaum's government met with Mexican airline executives at Palacio Nacional to assess the impact of US flight revocations. The three-hour meeting ended without statements. This follows Mexico's commitment to return confiscated slots to US airlines.
On Friday, around 11:30 a.m., a three-hour meeting began at Palacio Nacional between federal officials and Mexican airline executives to evaluate the initial impact of the US government's decision to revoke authorization for 13 air routes from the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA).
President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that the goal was to understand the companies' perspective on the US stance regarding flight cancellations and to determine next steps. Attendees included the director of the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), Juan José Padilla Olmos; the head of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE), Juan Ramón de la Fuente; the Undersecretary of Transport, Tania Carro Toledo; the AIFA director, Isidoro Pastor; the head of the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT), Jesús Esteva; and representatives from Volaris (Enrique Beltranena), Aeroméxico (Javier Arrigunaga), and Viva Aerobus (Juan Carlos Zuazua).
This meeting follows prior communications between the SICT and the US Department of Transportation (DOT), where Mexico committed to returning confiscated slots—landing and takeoff schedules—to US airlines due to a presidential decree limiting AICM operations to 44 per hour. Although the DOT acknowledged this commitment in an October 28 document, it noted it has not materialized, leading to the revocation of Mexican flights to the US on Tuesday night. The slots have been effectively denied for three years, with possible resumption in summer 2026.
Sheinbaum has indicated that revoking the 2023 AICM cargo flight suspension decree would compromise passenger safety, but she plans to engage in dialogue with the DOT and the State Department under the Trump administration. Mexico will also implement an international slot allocation system starting next year. At the meeting's end, participants left without issuing statements, keeping Mexico's official stance reserved.