FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, February 15, 1999
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel: (202) 366-5571
DOT 22-99

U.S., Mexico Sign Agreement
To Liberalize Aviation Services

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater and Mexican Secretary of Communications and Transport Carlos Ruiz Sacristan today signed an agreement liberalizing aviation services between the United States and Mexico.

The agreement, signed to coincide with the meeting in Merida, Mexico between President Bill Clinton and Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, features new code-sharing rights for the carriers of both sides. The terms of the agreement were reached during talks Jan. 25-26 in Zihuatenejo, Mexico.

"In his State of the Union address, President Clinton challenged our nation to ‘tear down barriers, open markets and expand trade,’" Secretary Slater said. "This agreement could lead to more U.S.-Mexican code-share arrangements than currently exist between the United States and the rest of the world combined."

Slater noted that the agreement builds on the success of last December’s meetings in New Orleans of Western Hemisphere transportation ministers. He added that it will expand air services, benefitting travelers, businesses, airlines and airports on both sides of the border.

Code sharing, a marketing arrangement in which one airline designates its own flight number on the flight of another carrier, allows the code-share carriers to provide seamless, more convenient service to passengers. While limited code sharing has previously taken place in the U.S.-Mexican market, the new agreement provides for a major expansion in these services.

Under the agreement:

• In addition to the two carriers from each country who may currently provide direct service, four carriers from each country may provide code-share services between the United States and Mexico in each transborder city-pair market.
• Code sharing services may take place between any U.S. and any Mexican point.
• Code-sharing may take place between a U.S. and Mexican carrier, between two U.S. carriers, and between two Mexican carriers.
• The agreement allows open code-sharing beyond gateway cities. Once code-share passengers reach the gateway city in the other country, they may proceed on to any other city in that country.

Major service improvements are anticipated as a result of this new agreement. Currently, applications for code sharing between some 10,000 U.S.-Mexican city-pair markets are pending before the DOT. Although all 10,000 are not expected to be implemented today, U.S. and Mexican airlines have fewer than 100 code-sharing agreements.

The agreement also allows charter programs to operate upon notification of the other government, eliminating advance approval requirements.

The provisions of the agreement went into effect on Jan. 26. The U.S. and Mexican governments have agreed to meet in six months to explore advancing their aviation relationship.

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Briefing Room