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Emirates Airline’s Mexico City flight suspended

The Arab airline was planning to fly daily from Mexico City to Dubai via Barcelona starting on December

An Airbus A380 bearing the colors of Emirates Airlines – Photo: P Masclet/AP
10/10/2019 |14:38
Redacción El Universal
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A judge decided to grant a writ of amparo to Aeromexico that stops the agreement of air services that was signed between the governments of Mexico and the United Arab Emirates , which prevents the arrival of Emirates Airlines to our country.

“Union justice protects Rodolfo Vidal Gómez Alcalá , in representation of Aerovías de México, S.A. de C.V. regarding the contested act,” mentions the sentence.

With this decision, the Dubai-Barcelona-Mexico flight planned by Emirates Airlines will not be able to take place.

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This Wednesday, Emirates Airlines offered a news conference to talk about the flight to Mexico City .

Emirates informed that it will appeal Aeroméxico’s writ of amparo, which orders the Mexican government to stop any action based on the bilateral agreement between this country and the United Arab Emirates.

There, the Mexican government through the General Board of Civil Aviation would not be able to authorize Emirates’ Dubai-Barcelona-Mexico flight , which was planned to begin next December 9 .

In the news conference, Scott Lantz , manager of Emirate’s area for Mexico, said they will appeal the writ of amparo and they hope that the General Board of Civil Aviation authorizes the flight in the following days.

“The idea is to follow all the necessary steps , all the necessary rules to operate in Mexico and we have constant contact with Airport authorities and the idea is to start operations via Barcelona in December,” he said.

Emirates mentioned that due to the altitude of Mexico City, they can operate a direct Dubai-Mexico City flight , but to come back they need to make a stopover in Barcelona.

The Arab airline said they have 10 days to appeal Aeroméxico’s writ of amparo and they will be based on the bilateral agreement signed with the Mexican government years ago which allows them to transport passengers between Mexico and Barcelona.

Mexico’s Air Pilots Union (ASPA)

informed that Emirates is not legally authorized to operate the Barcelona-Mexico route until the Mexican government, through the Senate and the Communications and Transports Ministry (SCT) assess the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2016 since it does not count with the formal requirements for its validity.

First, it was negotiated by an SCT officer that had no power to sign this kind of documents and, second, it infringes on what is stipulated in the Civil Aviation Regulation by allowing an unfair and non-equivalent market exchange , as explained by ASPA in a release.

“Emirates wants to take advantage of a market that does not correspond to it, violating national sovereignty and opening the door for other airlines to do the same, invading the Mexican market and harming national airlines ,” mentions the release.

Emirates is not looking for a single route; the Memorandum of Understanding with Mexico considers the operation of other routes , added ASPA.

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