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 servic ...

, Chiapas,

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.

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. However, challenges persisted at the new location, including fog 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, Aerocaribe, and

Mexicana Click MexicanaClick, formerly Click Mexicana, was Mexicana de Aviación, 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 regio ...

. 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 city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

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 Tapachula de Córdova y Ordóñez, simply known as Tapachula, is a city and municipality located in the far southeast of the state of Chiapas in Mexico, near the Guatemalan border and the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the most important cities of ...

, and

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

. 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 and ICAO 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 § Ver ...

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 standardise ...

, 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 ...

-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, concre ...

, designated 14/32, measuring , and an

apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...

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 m ...

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 airs ...

, 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 The Pilatus PC-9 is a single-engine, low-wing tandem-seat turboprop training aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Designed as a more powerful evolution of the Pilatus PC-7, the PC-9's first flight was made in May 1984 after ...

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 n ...

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