The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued an order canceling 13 current and proposed routes for Mexican carriers between the United States and each of Mexico City's two major airports—Felipe Angeles International Airport and Benito Juarez International Airport, the agency announced Tuesday.
Those routes include Aeromexico service between Benito Juarez and San Juan, P.R.; Volaris service between Benito Juarez and Newark, N.J.; Aeromexico service between Felipe Angeles and each Houston and McAllen in Texas; and Viva Aerobus' proposed services between Felipe Angeles and airports in each Austin, Texas; New York (John F. Kennedy International Airport); Chicago (O'Hare International Airport); Dallas Fort Worth; Denver; Houston; Los Angeles; Miami; and Orlando.
DOT in July announced new restrictions on flights from Mexico to "combat Mexico's blatant disregard of the 2015 U.S.-Mexico Air Transport Agreement and its ongoing anti-competitive behavior." The action was in response to Mexico's decision in 2022 to seize slots from carriers at Benito Juarez for construction and to alleviate congestion, but the government has taken no action for either, according to the agency. Mexico also required cargo operations move out of that airport to Felipe Angeles.
Further, in September, DOT ordered the termination of the antitrust-immune joint venture between Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico, citing the same noncompliance to the 2015 agreement. The joint venture currently is scheduled to wind down by Jan. 1, 2026; however, the carriers on Oct. 24 asked a U.S. appeals court to freeze the order, with Aeromexico stating it would face "substantial costs that it could not recover even if a court later upheld the arrangement," according to Reuters.
The court is the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which covers Delta's headquarters state of Georgia, and in which the carriers earlier in October jointly filed a petition for review.