New flights to Mexico get red-tape halt

Southwest blames Mexico officials for authorization delay.

Southwest Airlines has stopped new flights between Los Angeles and Mexico because Mexican authorities haven’t finished the paperwork formally authorizing the service.

American Airlines has been forced to delay one new route to Mexico while it too awaits approval from Mexico.

In both cases, the new flights were added after the U.S. and Mexico agreed in August to loosen restrictions limiting cross-border flights.

The Southwest cancellations cover 10 daily flights between Los Angeles and the Mexican resort cities of Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun. Southwest started flying the routes Sunday but then suspended service after Tuesday’s flights, according to data from tracking service FlightAware.com.

Southwest submitted all required paperwork to Mexican authorities more than three months ago, airline spokeswoman Brandy King said Friday.

“Because required paperwork still has not been issued by authorities in Mexico, we are now faced with unplanned challenges and forced to make proactive flight cancellations,” King said by email.

A U.S. Department of Transportation spokeswoman confirmed that the government has gotten involved to resolve the issue, but declined to comment further. Mexican aviation authorities had no immediate comment when reached by The Associated Press.

Dallas-based Southwest said that its older routes between the U.S. and Mexico are operating normally.

After the August accord, American Airlines announced that it would launch new service between Miami and Merida, Mexico, on Nov. 4. Service has been delayed because American’s operator Republic Airlines has not yet received approval from Mexico, said American spokesman Matt Miller.

However, American did receive an OK for new flights between Los Angeles and both Puerto Vallarta and Cancun, Miller said.