The International Airport of Mexico City (AICM) registered a new incident on Saturday that could compromise security despite the fact that one day before, on Friday the Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), denied that there was an increase in this type of events.
On Saturday, May 7th, an air traffic controller authorized a Volaris plane to land on runway 05L (left) of that terminal despite the fact that it is occupied by another plane from the same company that was located at the head of the runway, according to a video broadcast on social media.
In one of the videos, you can hear how another pilot warns the controller that “there is traffic at the head” so, being a few meters from touching the runway, the Volaris pilot had to go back into the air to avoid a collision.
By regulation, the runway must be empty for both landings and takeoffs.
The event takes place a few days after the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations (IFALPA) revealed an increase in incidents related to aircraft arriving at the AICM after the redesign of the airspace to include operations from Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA).
Despite the warnings, the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transport denied on Friday an increase in incidents and indicated that it only had a report of one that occurred back on June 15, 2021.
So far this year, the authority does not have official reports that allow it to act within the scope of its powers, so air operators are urged to request their crews to notify the competent authority of any event that allows them to take mitigation measures in the event of any incident,” the aeronautical authority said at the time.
Over the weekend, the aeronautical authority met with representatives of pilots and airlines to discuss the problem of airspace saturation in Mexico City.
TYT Newsroom
