On August 13, 2026, Mexico's Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC), under the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), published the general bases for allocating takeoff and landing slots and for aircraft turn priorities at Level 3 saturated civil public airports. The bases appeared in the Diario Oficial de la Federación and enter into force on August 14, 2026, the day after publication. AFAC announced the instrument as Comunicado 153-2026, framing it as the binding rulebook that operationalizes the slot regime reformed by decree this past June.
The new bases apply exclusively to aerodromes declared in Level 3 saturation conditions, for all hours of operation, regardless of separate saturation declarations covering airfields or terminal buildings. Today the only Mexican airport declared at Level 3 is Mexico City International Airport (AICM), the country's most capacity-constrained hub, which makes the instrument immediately material for every carrier operating there.
Which airports and operators must apply the new bases?
The bases bind the full chain of actors that run slot and operations scheduling at a Level 3 site: airport concessionaires and asignatarias through their airport administrators, the operations and scheduling committee (comité de operación y horarios), the delays subcommittee (subcomité de demoras), and the slot coordination and supervision subcommittee. AFAC itself, the air navigation services provider, and the slot coordinator (coordinadora de horarios) must also apply them.
For now that means AICM and the airlines that hold slots there: Aeromexico, Volaris and VivaAerobus domestically, plus US carriers flying into Mexico City, including Delta, United and American. Airport operators GAP, ASUR and OMA, which manage competing hubs in the Mexico City catchment, should treat the Level 3 framework as the reference model should their own airports be reclassified.
What changes for slot allocation and turn priorities?
AFAC sets two core obligations. First, slot allocation must be impartial, transparent and non-discriminatory, a standard that directly addresses the fairness concerns raised by the US Department of Transportation over historical-priority advantages at AICM. Second, the bases codify turn priorities (prioridades de turno) for aircraft at saturated aerodromes, giving the operations and scheduling committee and its subcommittees a single binding rulebook for sequencing and delay management rather than privately negotiated arrangements.
The instrument aligns Mexico with international best practice and the World Airport Slot Guidelines (WASG), the global reference IATA slot coordinators use. Concessionaires and operators must align scheduling, operations and delay management with the updated transparent criteria from August 14 onward.
| Milestone | Date | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| DOF decree reforming the Regulations of the Airports Law | June 9, 2026 | Three-tier airport classification, revised historical-priority and slot-transfer rules; ordered AFAC to publish new bases |
| AFAC general bases published in the DOF | August 13, 2026 | Binding slot allocation and turn-priority rules for Level 3 saturated airports |
| Bases enter into force | August 14, 2026 | One day after publication, ahead of the September 2026 deadline set by the June decree |
How does this connect to the June 2026 Airports Law Regulation reform?
The bases are the implementation step of the June 9, 2026 DOF decree that reformed the Regulations of the Airports Law (Reglamento de la Ley de Aeropuertos). That decree introduced a three-tier airport classification, revised the historical-priority and slot-transfer rules, and ordered AFAC to publish the new slot allocation bases, with publication expected no later than the beginning of September 2026. The August 13 publication lands roughly three weeks ahead of that deadline.
The reform was driven in part by US DOT fairness concerns over slot allocation at AICM, where incumbent carriers' historical-priority slots had been flagged as a barrier to new-entrant and cargo access. By codifying impartial, transparent allocation, the bases translate the decree's policy intent into an enforceable administrative standard the slot coordinator and operations committees must apply.
What should affected airlines and airports do before August 14?
With entry into force one day after publication, the practical window is effectively zero: compliance is expected from August 14, 2026. Slot and schedule managers should confirm their AICM slot holdings against the new impartial, transparent, non-discriminatory standard, brief the operations and scheduling committee and the delays subcommittee on the turn-priority rules, and verify that the slot coordinator's allocation process for the next scheduling season reflects the updated criteria. New-entrant and cargo carriers should review whether the revised rules open access they did not have under the prior historical-priority regime.
Continuous, per-jurisdiction real-time monitoring surfaces this kind of change the moment it publishes in the DOF, before it reaches the trade press.
Take advantage of this real-time watch
Next steps: verify whether your operations touch a Level 3 saturated aerodrome, confirm your slot coordinator's compliance posture before the next scheduling season, and brief scheduling, operations and legal teams on the turn-priority obligations now in force under AFAC Comunicado 153-2026.
