An airliner had to abort its landing maneuver to avoid hitting an aircraft taxiing on the Mexico City airport runway on Saturday, according to videos of the incident released by local media and airline information involved.
“It is an incident that we cannot allow…these are very worrying events that we must look into,” Transport Undersecretary Rogelio Jiménez Pons told Milenio TV, announcing that Director of Navigation Services Victor Hernandez Sandoval tendered his resignation.
In two videos posted by local media, the passenger plane is seen about to land, but suddenly resumes flight as another aircraft continues to taxi down the runway.
“Thanks to the training of our pilots (…) no passenger or crew member was in danger during the situation reported at the #AICM (capital airport) on the night of May 7”, said on Twitter, Enrique Beltranena, director of the airline Volaris to which the plane involved belongs.
The incident happened at Benito Juárez airport, the busiest in Latin America, with 36 million passengers in 2021.
Victor Hernández Sandoval had been tasked with redesigning the capital’s airspace to allow the operation of two airports in Mexico City, despite criticism from experts about the complications of operating two airports in a city surrounded by mountains and over 2,200 meters above sea level.
The incident came after the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations (IFALPA) reported on Thursday problems crews would face as a result of airspace overhaul over Mexico City to ensure the operation of another airport, that of Felipe Ángeles.
IFALPA points out in particular that planes are now subject to long holding patterns, forcing them to land with little fuel.
Faced with the saturation of Benito Juárez airport, the previous Mexican government decided to build a new airport in Texcoco, a suburb of the capital.
But President Andrés Manuel López Obrador canceled this project and launched his plan to convert a military base into an airport, drawing criticism from investors and opponents.
In May 2021, the United States downgraded Mexico City’s aviation safety rating, due to a lack of proper oversight.