Mexico Reverses Aviation Budget Cuts, Pledges Full Funding for SENEAM and AFAC Ahead of FAA IASA Audit

Mexico's Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT) has guaranteed full budget allocations for SENEAM and AFAC in 2027, reversing sharp cuts outlined in the government's preliminary expenditure proposal. Speaking at the 48th anniversary ceremony for Air Navigation Services in the Mexican Airspace (SENEAM), SICT Secretary Jesús Esteva Medina confirmed both agencies will receive funding levels exceeding their 2026 budgets.

Under the initial draft budget, SENEAM — which manages control towers at 63 domestic airports with a workforce of air traffic controllers, aeronautical meteorologists, and engineers — was allocated MX$926,386,037 (US$51.18 million), down from its 2026 operating budget of MX$3,750.5 million (US$207.32 million), a 75% cut. AFAC's funding was set to fall to MX$175,446,060 (US$9.70 million), compared with the MX$657,512,050 (US$36.35 million) authorized for 2026, a 73% cut. Esteva said intervention from President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) will ensure combined support expected to exceed MX$2,000 million (US$110.62 million) for the two agencies, and that a formal budget mechanism with SHCP is being examined to let both entities retain and deploy their self-generated operational revenue directly.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is scheduled to deliver preliminary findings from its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) audit of AFAC on October 14, which will determine whether Mexico retains its Category 1 safety rating or is downgraded to Category 2 — a downgrade would bar Mexican carriers from adding new routes or frequencies to the United States. Esteva said all requested items had been submitted on time and that authorities would have 90 days to address any observations from the FAA. SICT is also navigating enforcement actions by the US Department of Transportation (DOT), which has restricted new route approvals from Mexico City International Airport (AICM) and Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) over alleged non-compliance with the bilateral air transport agreement; Esteva said communications with the DOT are ongoing and a resolution is expected in the coming days.

SICT outlined a 15-year investment plan for air navigation totalling nearly MX$15,000 million (US$830.11 million). Immediate measures include updated wage tables for SENEAM's 2,600-person workforce and a MX$50 million (US$2.77 million) allocation to modernise 30 control towers.

Phase one of the tower renovation programme is nearing completion in Veracruz, with subsequent projects planned for Puerto Vallarta, El Bajío, Monterrey, and Zacatecas. Ten additional tower renovations are scheduled to begin in October, with 15 more set for 2027.

This case illustrates how a country's international safety rating can override its own fiscal planning once a bilateral audit enters its final stage: a 75% and 73% proposed cut to air traffic control and civil aviation oversight agencies was reversed within weeks of a pivotal FAA assessment. Category 1 versus Category 2 status under the IASA framework is not a formality — it directly gates whether a country's carriers can add US routes and frequencies, which is why funding for the regulator and the air navigation provider became politically urgent rather than a routine budget line.

The DOT's parallel restriction on new route approvals from AICM and AIFA adds a second track of US leverage, separate from the FAA's safety audit, tied to compliance with the bilateral air transport agreement. How these two processes resolve — the FAA's October 14 preliminary findings and the DOT's pending decision — will determine whether Mexican carriers face operational limits in the US market heading into 2027.

The next concrete checkpoints are the FAA's preliminary findings on October 14 and the 90-day window Mexican authorities would have to respond to any observations, alongside whatever resolution emerges from the SICT-DOT communications described as imminent.