Are mexican airlines as safe as the american?

Do they have the same requirements as the american arlines? If not, which airlines would be better to to travel by? .

I perform maintenance audits on aircraft that I take back off of lease around the world, so I think I am uniquely qualified to judge just such a question.

So, you must understand that there are varying levels of 'safety' even in the US. Most flag carriers such as Mexicana are generally the same as a US flag carrier, such as United insofar as 'safety' goes.

the Mexican authorities are much looser with their interpretation of the rules and how they administer them (don't get me started on the FAA doing the same...)

Now, when you get past the flag carriers and start looking at discount airlines, that is where the distinction is. They have much less funding to spend on aircraft maintenance.

I'll give you an example: Often, the larger airlines will perform Service Bulletins put out by the manufacturer on a voluntary basis (this is usually only done in order to improve dispatch reliability of the aircraft, not necessarily to improve safety). Nevertheless, the big airlines will spend the money to do it. This sort of thing almost never happens at the smaller airline level since they simply don't have the funds to carry out the optional maintenance or modification.

Here's a word of advice for EVERYONE considering flights in Mexico: STAY AWAY FROM AVOLAR

JTEXAS: You are fooling yourself if you think foreign carriers are subject to FAA rules just because they fly into the USA. They are NOT. They are granted the routes and they abide by their own regulatory agencies rules. There are bi-lateral agreements in place with most industrial nations that prevent us imposing our rules on them and vice-versa.

Any foreign carrier landing in the U.S. must comply with the same FAA regulations as U.S. carriers. I have as much confidence putting my family on Aero Mexico or Mexicana as on AA. That's not to say other Mexican carriers are bad, I just don't have knowledge to form an opinion.

I don't know who would really be qualified to answer this question. I think they are just as safe as US airlines. Mexicana has been around a long time. It is a large world class airline.

I would bet that the American Airlines are safer because of the FAA restrictions and rules. I'm sure that Mexican airlines are perfectly safe even without the regular restrictions with the FAA

there probally arent terrorist

They're as safe as any US airline...

I'm sure they're perfectly safe.