Is the Teotihuacan Hot Air Balloon Safe?

No website can promise that a balloon flight is safe, this one included. What we can do is set out what Mexico’s Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC), the country’s civil aviation authority, published, with the dates, and what to ask before you pay.

What AFAC reported in 2026

• 16 March 2026. AFAC reported that at 8:40 AM that day, in the municipality of Teotihuacan, a hot air balloon hit electrical power cables; two people on board were burned by an electric discharge and taken to a private hospital in Mexico City. AFAC opened an administrative investigation.
• 29 March 2026. AFAC made a verification visit to the balloon ports of the Teotihuacan valley, with State of Mexico officials and the Civil Protection offices of San Martín de las Pirámides and San Juan Teotihuacan. It inspected 23 of the 46 balloons operating, whose owners showed the documents for their legal operation, and Civil Protection put suspension seals on three businesses for various irregularities (AFAC notice of 3 April 2026).
• 21 April 2026. AFAC reported a balloon landing at 9:15 AM near the archaeological zone, next to the Pyramid of the Sun and beside the Avenue of the Dead, with no one hurt. Staff from the Felipe Ángeles International Airport command went to the site to gather information and, where due, apply sanctions; an administrative investigation was opened.

The three notices are on the AFAC site, gob.mx/afac.

The best-remembered accident in the area came earlier: the Mexican news channel N+ reported on 1 April 2023 that a balloon’s basket caught fire in the Teotihuacan area, with two people dead and a minor injured.

What to ask before you pay

We found no public list of permitted balloon operators on the AFAC site, so the check is yours. Before you pay, ask the operator:

1. Which AFAC permit it holds, and for which balloons. A listing that mentions AFAC does not replace that answer.
2. What insurance covers passengers.
3. What happens if the weather stops the flight. On Viator, the four flights on this site cancel free of charge up to 24 hours before. The GetYourGuide flight is non-refundable and is subject to weather and security conditions.
4. Your weight and what it costs. Weight is used to balance the basket: with Viaja Teotihuacan you are weighed at check-in, and with Tlatoani tours the pilot may ask some passengers to move to the other side of the same basket to balance it.

Who cannot fly, listing by listing

Each listing’s limits (Viator checked November 2026; GetYourGuide checked November 2026).

The wind is in charge

The flights of Volare, Tlatoani tours and GetYourGuide depend on the weather, and the wind sets the route; with Volare and Tlatoani tours the balloon does not always pass over the archaeological zone. In October 2026 one Viaja Teotihuacan reviewer flew a day later because the weather stopped the flight on the booked day, and another wrote that the flight was called off for weather after arriving at the balloon port. The best time for a Teotihuacan hot air balloon covers the weather, flight by flight.