Southwest Airlines has been forced to cancel several Mexican flights just days after the routes were launched due to a paperwork mix-up.
Mexican authorities say they hadn’t actually completed authorization for Southwest’s new flights to Cancun, Puerta Vallerta and Los Cabos from Los Angeles despite allowing the routes to begin on December 4.
As a result of the paperwork snafu Southwest initially cancelled several flights through Tuesday but has now received amended paperwork and hopes to resume flying before Monday.
The airline said its own paperwork was in order and was handed to Mexican authorities more than three months ago.
"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," spokeswoman Brandy King earlier said.
U.S. Department of Transportation confirmed it idiscussed the mix-up with Mexican counterparts.
Southwest maintains it was ‘fully compliant with the terms of the bilateral aviation agreement’ between Mexico and the US, which was updated to lift restrictions on the number of airlines and routes served between the two countries.
