Mexico names new civil aviation chief

Miguel Pelaez Lira has been named the new head of Mexico's Civil Aviation General Directorate, or DGAC, replacing Gilberto Lopez Meyer.

Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, head of the Communications and Transportation Secretariat, which oversees the DGAC, made the appointment on Wednesday.

Lopez was recently named the senior vice president for safety and flight operations of the International Air Transport Association, or IATA, the trade association for the world's airlines, the secretariat said in a statement.

Referring to Pelaez, the statement said he had "vast experience in technical aspects of aviation," having served as director of Mexican Airspace Navigation Services, or Seneam, and that entity's deputy director of air transport, as well as the DGAC's deputy director of air safety.

He also has represented Mexico at gatherings of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the IATA and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Pelaez, moreover, has spearheaded two recent Mexican air space restructurings aimed at improving operational safety and led two processes to modernize the nation's Automatized Air Traffic Control System, the secretariat said.