Aicraft Title & Registrations: Mexico

Mexico’s authority in charge of the civil aviation registry is the Mexican Aeronautics Registry (Registro Aeronáutico Mexicano) of the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (Agencia Federal de Aviación Civil) (“AFAC”), a division of the Secretary of Communications and Transportation of Mexico (Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes). It replaced the former Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics (Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil) on October 16, 2019. 

While all aviation-related interests must be registered with the Mexican Aeronautics Registry, there are certain interests that might need to be registered with the Sole Registry of Security Interests over Movable Assets (Registro Único de Garantías Mobiliarias) (“RUG”) as well.  

Registration of interests pursuant to The Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and its Protocol on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment (the “Convention”) is available as well, considering Mexico is a party to the Convention.  

While the Mexican Aeronautics Registry is envisaged as an operator registry, interests of both the operator and the owner can be recorded. 

The following documentation is required to register an aircraft in Mexico:  

All interests to be recorded with the Mexican Aeronautics Registry must be duly notarized. If such document(s) were (i) issued abroad, they must be notarized and further apostilled or legalized (as applicable) and/or (ii) entered in any language other than Spanish, a Spanish certified translation thereof must be issued by a Mexican court approved expert translator. 

Fees for the issuance of the certificate of registration marks will need to be paid and are usually in the approximate range of $100.00 USD and $130.00 USD. Please bear in mind that AFAC’s fees are adjusted every six months.  

Additionally, recordation fees are also payable and depend on the number of pages of the documents to be recorded.   

There are no weight and/or maximum age restrictions to register an aircraft in Mexico. Registration of aircraft in Mexico can be achieved as long as the aircraft is in airworthy condition according to Mexican applicable aviation laws and regulations. 

No. Registration of an aircraft in the Mexican Aeronautics Registry does not constitute proof of ownership under the laws of Mexico. It only constitutes public notice to third parties of the rights and interests in respect of the aircraft. 

In principle, aircraft title transfers in Mexico can be achieved by means of an aircraft purchase agreement, bill of sale or similar document. Such agreement or document underlying title transfer in and to the aircraft must be duly notarized for purposes of registering it with the Mexican Aeronautics Registry. If such document(s) were (i) issued abroad, they must be notarized and further apostilled or legalized (as applicable) and/or (ii) entered in any language other than Spanish, a Spanish certified translation thereof must be issued by a Mexican court approved expert translator. 

Please bear in mind that for the sale and purchase of aircraft that are located in Mexican territory and/or that are bearing Mexican registration marks (regardless of the aircraft’s physical location) value added tax will be triggered at a statutory rate of 16% over the purchase price of the aircraft.   

Furthermore, the sale and purchase of aircraft imported into Mexico through a temporary import regime is expressly prohibited.  

The following information is reflected in the Mexican certificate of registration marks: 

Yes. Entries in the Mexican Aeronautics Registry are public and can be accessed upon submission of a specific search request. Fees in the amount of $10.00 USD (approximately) must be paid. 

The following aircraft operations can be conducted with aircraft registered in Mexico:  

In principle, foreign registered aircraft can operate in Mexico pursuant to an international scheduled and non-schedule air transportation service; however, foreign registered aircraft are expressly prohibited from engaging in cabotage operations within Mexican territory, except from those preforming private non-commercial operations.  

Mortgages, leases and/or security interests can all be registered with the Mexican Aeronautics Registry; however, it may be the case that certain interests may also need to be registered with the RUG. 

All interests to be recorded with the Mexican Aeronautics Registry must be duly notarized. If such document(s) were (i) issued abroad, they must be notarized and further apostilled or legalized (as applicable) and/or (ii) entered in any language other than Spanish, a Spanish certified translation thereof must be issued by a Mexican court approved expert translator. 

Costs will generally range depending on the type of document, number of pages, etc.  

While Mexican law does not recognize priority notices as security instruments, they are recognized as a measure to block, on a temporary basis, all registrations under the aircraft records while the underlying document by virtue of which the aircraft records were blocked is made available and further registered with the Mexican Aeronautics Registry. Priority notices may include security interests, liens, and title transfers, among others.  

In principle, mortgages extend to engines and other parts of the aircraft (accesorium sequitur principale); however, specific securities (i.e., pledges) over engines and/or other parts of the aircraft can also be recorded in Mexico.  

None – to the extent that an aircraft mortgage was duly registered as a first ranking priority mortgage, no other lien would take priority.  

No. Self-help remedies cannot be exercised and are not available in Mexico.  

To the extent that the laws of the relevant country allow the creation of security agreements over collateral located and further registered in Mexico, it would be possible for such security to be recognized in Mexico. However, this is not an advisable scenario since enforcement of such security might potentially be impractical or inapplicable as a consequence of practical registration issues and therefore it would lack public notice to third parties. In that sense, it is strongly advisable for securities to be created pursuant to Mexican laws over collateral located in Mexico in order to be valid and fully enforceable.  

Yes. Foreign law-governed leases are recognized in Mexico in order to validly lease an aircraft registered with the Mexican Aeronautics Registry to a lessee incorporated in Mexico. Such leases need to be duly notarized. If issued abroad, they must be notarized and further apostilled or legalized (as applicable). If the lease was entered in any language other than Spanish, a Spanish certified translation thereof must be issued by a Mexican court approved expert translator.  

Yes. Mexico has ratified the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the related Aircraft Protocol.  

Mexico’s Declarations have limited the scope of the Convention and made the enforcement of the remedies set out in the Convention potentially impractical or inapplicable as no remedies can be exercised without the leave of a court since “alternative B” was chosen under Article XI of the Protocol with regards to remedies on insolvency. IDERAs are therefore not enforceable in Mexico.  

The Mexican Aeronautics Registry will only deregister an aircraft upon request of the aircraft’s operator or by a court resolution. If a security interest is registered in the Mexican Aeronautics Registry, deregistration cannot take place without the consent of the creditor.   

Mexican registration marks are granted in favor of the operator of the aircraft based on its legitimate right to have possession of the aircraft. Consequently, a lessor or aircraft owner can only apply for deregistration if it complies with the following requirements (provided that the lease was terminated and that title to the aircraft was duly registered in favor of the lessor): 

Note should be taken that, in principle, a lessor or owner will in practice be unable to obtain deregistration of an aircraft without the consent or cooperation of the aircraft’s lessee or operator (please refer to question 23 below). 

Fees to deregister an aircraft form Mexico may apply depending on whether the aircraft is being exported.  

Yes. If a security interest (i.e., mortgage) is registered in the Mexican Aeronautics Registry, deregistration cannot take place without the consent of the creditor.  

In principle, a lessor or owner will in practice be unable to obtain deregistration of an aircraft without the consent or cooperation of the aircraft’s lessee or operator since it cannot apply for the removal of the aircraft form the operator’s operating certificates as it is only the operator who can apply for such removal. 

Additionally, the original certificate of registration marks must be filed for deregistration. If the lessor or owner is not in possession of such certificate, which is issued and delivered by the Mexican Aeronautics Registry to the operator only, deregistration cannot occur.  

With the cooperation of the lessee/operator, deregistration process can be completed in about five to 10 business days after the filing of the deregistration request.

Without the cooperation of the lessee/operator/defaulting party, deregistration can only occur upon termination of the lease by the parties or by means of a court resolution. To obtain a court resolution, lessor/owner/creditor will need to initiate legal proceedings and seek court action against lessee/operator/defaulting party, which can take approximately 18 months.

Under Mexican laws, a mortgagee/creditor can request the repossession of the aircraft on the occurrence of an event of default or upon termination of the underlying agreement secured by the mortgage; however, if the debtor does not voluntarily return the aircraft, the mortgagee will need to seek court action in order to enforce its rights and to repossess the aircraft.  

Self-help remedies cannot be exercised and are not available in Mexico. Therefore, the repossession of an aircraft requires an order from a competent court. It will be necessary to terminate the title under which a lessee has obtained possession of the aircraft. 

In principle, there are two types of proceedings to obtain an order for repossession of an aircraft: 

 The main difference between the two types of proceedings is that an executive commercial proceeding resolution is issued within shorter statutory periods and the creditor can obtain a cautionary order to guarantee the value of its claim from the commencement of the proceeding. In principle, this ensures that the debtor will meet its obligations in full on the issuance of a final judgment in favor of the creditor.