Mexico downgraded by FAA; Mexicana facing serious fiscal troubles

Sad to hear this news, however I'm not surprised Mexicana has been quietly hiding many things for decades.

Please, don't let MXA become another VARIG!!! Mexicana is a world class airline, new planes, very good level of service/amenities and a long tradition in aviation history. Mexican carriers, (MX/AM) in general have better levels of service, newer fleets and better amenities than any US Major. This is very surprising!!!

Orlando is sooo right:
Just compare the aircraft age and confort and on-board services between AA and MX and you would see the wolrd of difference; some examples:
MX offers, free of charge, even for ALL coach passengers:
Headsets, Beers, spirits and other alcoholic brevages, HOT food, Blankets, pillows, SMILES !
Try to get any of these for free in AA !

Too funnny ?
Let's seee.... just answer these:
When was the last time you flew MX ?
When was the last time you got FREE hot food, headsets, and alcoholic brevages on board a US major carrier in coach ?
When did you flew in an aircarf of a major US carrier that was younger than your mother ? ...cleaner and better kept ? (maybe that also applies to the crew and their attitude)
Let's be objective guys !

The Mexican carriers indeed have better service. Ask my clients who have flown them recently. The service is far better than any US carrier.

Guys, the problem is not with the MX/AM, the downgrading is to the country. There are big problems with the security in the country. This downgrading affects MX/AM in the business with the code shares with the American carriers. Mexico loose Cat 1 and this imply a lot of things.

Guys, Aeromexico and Mexicana are far superior to the likes of AA, CO, UA, DL.

Their fleet is more modern (no more MD going around), they still give you something to eat, no charges for seat pre-assignment, free alcohol including tequila, they still treat you as a human being and not cattle.

Why would you think Funjet Vacations would switch from United to Mexicana for their ORDCUN and ORDPVR value flights or Aeromexico for DFWCUN?......not by chance.....

Wake up, US airlines are a disgrace, wake up before it is too late. They should have been let go belly up without goverment, that is, taxpayer money in bailouts (which by the way are typical of socialist countries and used to pay for top exec bonuses.

Now, bring on the heat.......I will continue to smile down here in Mexico, not a perfect country by any means but so much better than what the US media is portraying Mexico to be. Stop Mexico´s unjustified bashing!.

Mexicana needs to charge more money, if they want to stay in business. One of the problems in Latin America is the small rich class wants the masses to work for very small wages with little or no benefits. This is why so many people come to the United States of America. This has been going on for several centuries. How much longer is this going to continue?

I see people are more concerned with free food than safety. Let's be real and realize what the money on US airlines go to. Oversight and Safety. I would rather be safe then drunk and full.

Dear Mike,

How many US airlines have been involved in a crash in the US over the past few years?. How many such incidents have taken place?.

Now, let´s take a look at Mexico....how many?......

Numbers do not lie. You are right, it is more than free food and booze, safety naturally comes in first and here again US airlines are the clear loosers.

Wake up!. Your airports are crumbling, old, decrepit, way beyond crowded, lack of decent facilities (take a look at MIA, not a single decent restaurant where you can eat healthy food, only greasy American food), connecting in the US is close to a nightmare, let alone your immigration officers and their usual warm welcome to the US, etc.

The service can be better in Mexicana but the administration of the company is really poor, why they changed their image painting planes changing logo, uniforms counters etc.? All the cost of this huge change when you have red numbers. Direct formula to Chapt 11
Do you want a CEO like this? not in my company. : (

I find it absolutely ludicrous when people make remarks about the free food and drinks onboard. When the US carriers OFFERED them, people complained, whinned and were very critical. Now You do not get them.......unless You Pay. And that's the way IT SHOULD BE. I am T-i-r-e-d of You clowns that feel Someone, Somewhere OWES You something ALL The Time. Airlines ARE Transportation. PERIOD.

once again for mexicana airlines pilots, who fly gliders, or blenders, it is absurd and unacceptable to belive that an a320, or 319 , and b757 pilot make on salary $216.000 dls. imp[osible not even the us carriers, the only us capitan who makes that money is a b747 pilot or a b777, and airbus a330 but for those pilots the onces fligh gliders it is to much money, no wander mexicana is broke, is not the same to make pesos to make dls. it is good for volaris, ok hnos fisher i will see you on the unemployment office.

I was AMT for Mexicana Airlines for many years, you can say many things about pilots and flight attendants salaries and our flying cantinas, but not about the maintenance and operational standards. I admit our aviation authority is a bit incompetent and easy to corrupt but our aircraft are maintained with the same or higher standards than in the USA or Europe. The reason is that American and European insurance and leasing companies own most if not all the aircraft we operate and they ask us to keep them under american register and keep them with the highest standards. We have to pay the latino quota, it means to be better than them to be considered at least as good as them.

the mexican SCT aeronautic authorities do not have right people to conduct and keep control of the mexican aviation.
the flight crew feels like like gods, they like to intimidate to every budy, ground crew, maintenance personal, federal authorities, and so on. on denver 6 years ago the flight crew
dont want to let an FAA safety inspector, when the inspector ask to see the log book the comments of the pilots on spanish was (this is a mexican registration airplane) except they dont undertand that to be uble to flight over the us airspace they have to comply with the F,A,R,S this is why the fligth crew needs to read all the regulation, and obey any instruction of an FAA. or SCT safety instructions, the mexican inspectors rather then reinforce the regulations the try to avoid the flight crew, because if they try to do teir job the capitais treth them and maybe they will not have a job the next day, why because the director of the SCT is their compadre.on maintenance wise the mechanics do a great job
but olso they try to avoid the flight crew.

The Canadian living in Mexico IS a socialist, having been born in 1 such nation filled with them & now residing in another such nation filled with them as he now seems to be. So, he'd know! All blind nationalism aside, to rank a Mexican aircarrier ahead of AA, CO, DL et al --- by & large --- is fully ludicrous & ignorant. Most of you anti-USA writers herein already have an agenda and/or an ulterior bias against ANYthing USA to start with although you're loathe to have the guts to admit it -- you & your spoiled drunk pals.

A little late, but I just stumbled across this thread. I have to comment on this.

A few basic facts:

First of all, there are a lot of airlines around the world that give much better customer service. Any one that flies international very much knows this is a simple fact.

Customer service is important to customers.

Not all airlines are equal, including the ones in Mexico and the U.S. Some will do all their inspections on time, won't take short cuts, hire qualified people and keep up with their records. Unfortunately some airlines don't and this is where the problem is.

Airlines in the states, have taken some heavy hits from the FAA for breaking the rules. Fines can be in the millions of dollars, and aircraft have been grounded.

The problem is that Mexico's version of the FAA, has NOT been doing their job to make enforce aviation regulations. This opens to door, for major problems. If an aircraft crashes, everyone will want to know why. While the crash site and the data/voice recorders can help, many times it's the maintenance records, that fill in the blanks.

Those records will show who worked on the aircraft, who supervised it, if the people were properly trained, what parts were used and if they were legal parts.

Unfortunately I've personally seen this problem in Mexico. I don't work for the FAA, but do work in the field.

Many of the problems would never be picked up my most of the airlines staff and never by it's customers. If a pilot notices a problem he writes it up in the log book, and expects it to be fixed properly. However he/she has no way of knowing if it's been done right. Good work ethics, and proper supervision from the government is the best defense from bad maintenance practices.

The good news is, that most airlines on both sides of the boarder, to abide the rules are are safe. However it only takes one....

So what's more important, a free beer or knowing that your aircraft is safe?