Tuxtla Gutiérrez Air Force Base ( es, Base Aérea Militar Tuxtla Gutiérrez) (B.A.M. 6); officially ''Base Aérea Militar No. 6 General Aviador Ángel Hipólito Corzo Molina'' (Air Force Base No. 6 General Aviator Ángel Hipólito Corzo Molina), formerly known as Francisco Sarabia National Airport or Terán Airport , is a military airport located in

Tuxtla Gutiérrez Tuxtla Gutiérrez (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Mexican southeastern state of Chiapas. It is the seat of the municipality of the same name, the most developed and populated in the state. A busy government, commercial and servi ...

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It formerly served as the main airport for the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez. However, the airport no longer provides scheduled passenger public services and is currently used exclusively for military purposes. The nearest airport serving commercial flights is

Tuxtla Gutiérrez International Airport Ángel Albino Corzo International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional Ángel Albino Corzo), also known as ''Tuxtla Gutierrez International Airport'', is an international airport serving the Mexico, Mexican municipality of Chiapa de Corzo, Chia ...

History

Initially opened in 1957 as the first commercial airport serving Tuxtla Gutiérrez, this small airport faced limitations in capacity and technical constraints. In 1980, civil operations were relocated to Llano San Juan Airport in the neighboring municipality of

Ocozocoautla Ocozocoautla de Espinosa, colloquially Coita, is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It is located in the western part of the state, 24 km west of Tuxtla Gutierrez covering parts of the Depresión Central (Central Depress ...

. However, challenges persisted at the new location, including

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

and wind conditions that hindered commercial aviation. Despite various investments, such as the installation of radio systems and the construction of a second runway, these efforts proved unsuccessful. Consequently, by the late 1990s, the old Terán Airport had to be temporarily reactivated to facilitate flight operations. Over time, the airport served multiple airlines, including Mexicana,

Aviacsa Consorcio Aviaxsa, S.A. de C.V., doing business as Aviacsa, was a low-cost airline of Mexico with its headquarters in Hangar 1 of Zone C on the property of Mexico City International Airport in Venustiano Carranza, Mexico City, Mexico. The airlin ...

Aerocaribe Aerocaribe was an airline based in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. It was a regional affiliate of Mexicana operating services under the Mexicana Inter banner and codeshares with its parent company. It operated almost 120 flights a day. In 2005 Mexica ...

, and

Mexicana Click MexicanaClick, formerly Click Mexicana, was Mexicana's regional operator, serving most of Mexicana's domestic routes between more than 25 Mexican cities. It was founded as a low-cost carrier, but changed its market to regional operations after i ...

. These airlines operated flights to destinations such as

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

, Tapachula, and

Villahermosa Villahermosa ( , ; "Beautiful Village") is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and serves as the Municipalities of Mexico, municipal seat (governing county) of the state. Located in Southeast Mexico, Villahermosa is an ...

. The airport also supported flight training, military, charter, and general aviation activities. The need for a third airport in Tuxtla Gutiérrez became more apparent in the early 2000s as the existing air infrastructure could not fully meet the city's growing commercial air traffic demands. In 2006, the new Tuxtla Gutiérrez International Airport in Chiapa de Corzo was inaugurated, and all civil operations were transferred there, along with Sarabia's former

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...

and

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

airport codes. Its original name honored the memory of the Durango-born aviator Francisco Sarabia Tinoco. Subsequently, as a military air base, it was renamed in honor of Brigadier General Aviator Ángel Hipólito Corzo Molina.

Facilities

Located within the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Metropolitan area, approximately west of the city center, the Air Force Base is situated at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

, it features one

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

-surfaced

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

, designated 14/32, measuring , and an apron with parking positions for

narrow-body aircraft A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast seating in a cabin less than in width. In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner usually configured with mult ...

and helipads. Adjacent facilities include the former passenger terminal, a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

, a

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

, and additional structures to house Air Force personnel. The 202 Air Squadron is a unit of the Mexican Air Force stationed at Terán Airport. This unit operates Pilatus PC-9 and

Pilatus PC-7 The Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer is a low-wing tandem-seat training aircraft designed and manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. The aircraft is capable of all basic training functions including aerobatics, instrument, tactical and ni ...

aircraft.

Incidents

On September 15, 2010, an AeroMexico MD-83 erroneously landed at Teran Airport after confusing it with Albino Corzo International Airport. AeroMexico flight 553, operated on behalf of AeroMexico Travel, came from Mexico City and had 80 passengers on board.

References

External links

SEDENA

* Airports in Mexico Airports in Chiapas Transportation in Chiapas {{authority control Military installations of Mexico Mexican Air Force Mexican Air Force bases Tuxtla Gutiérrez

History

Facilities

Incidents

See also

References

External links