The National Union of Air Traffic Controllers ( Sinacta ) reported that between December 2021 and March of this year, there have been at least 30 “serious” air incidents in Mexico due to various causes, among which changes in space influence from its reconfiguration and the working conditions of the personnel in charge of traffic management.
Regarding the incidents in the country, Alfredo Covarrubias, secretary general of Sinacta, pointed out that up to 100 incidents have been reported in the country when considering those that are not serious, and even some that have not been reported by air personnel. Of these, 40% have occurred in Mexico City, which also concentrates around 10 of the 30 most serious incidents.
For the representative of the air traffic controllers, the causes of these incidents depend on several factors, for which he considered that there is no single person responsible for them.
“It is a bit exaggerated to want to see who is responsible. In the investigation of aviation incidents, those responsible are not sought, the causes are sought so that an incident does not occur again, and not go to the next stage, which are accidents, ”he said at a press conference.
The remarks of the air traffic controllers union come a few days after the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations (IFALPA) warned of irregularities in the airspace from the coexistence of operations of the International Airport Felipe Angeles (AIFA) with the AICM.
A few days later, the video of an approach incident in which VOC 4069, which was going to take off to Guatemala, and which entered the runway where flight VOI 799 was located, from Mazatlán, Sinaloa, circulated on networks. This led to the announcement of the resignation of the director of Navigation Services in the Mexican Air Space (Seneam).
In this regard, Covarrubias said that part of the irregularities recorded have also affected the delays recorded at the International Airport of Mexico City, where Sinacta considers that there is no adequate control in the distribution of flights, especially from the reconfiguration of the airspace.
“The restructuring of airspace involves not only airlines and routes, but also has to do with flow control services. The service that was working well with the previous procedures on this occasion did not pay much attention to flow control, and they have put people who do not work, and from there the problem of AICM saturation and the generation of delays begins, because the controller of flow must make blocks so that no hour is saturated”, he referred.
In addition, the union secretary pointed out that the work environment is another factor that puts more risks of incidents on the table, both in terms of wages and working conditions.
“It is a worldwide problem that controllers are not aware of it. There is always some discrepancy because the control towers forget that they must have five to six controllers to cover services, more if they are 24 hours”, he concluded.
