León/Bajio International Airport (); officially ''Aeropuerto Internacional de Guanajuato'' (Guanajuato International Airport) , is an international airport situated in

Silao Silao (), officially Silao de la Victoria, is a city in the west-central part of the state of Guanajuato in Mexico. It is the seat of the municipality with the same name. As of the 2005 census, the city had a population of 66,485, making it the s ...

Guanajuato Guanajuato, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato, is one of the 32 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guanajuato, 46 municipalities and its cap ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It is the main international airport serving the Greater León Metropolitan Area and the State of Guanajuato, which is home to a population of 6 million residents, including the cities of

Celaya Celaya (; Otomi: ) is a city and its surrounding municipality in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, located in the southeast quadrant of the state. It is the third most populous city in the state, with a 2005 census population of 310,413. The muni ...

Irapuato Irapuato is a Mexican city and municipalities of Mexico, municipality located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish Language, Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the Mexican state, state of Guanajuato. It lies between the ...

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, and

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the Municipalities of Mexico, municipality of San Miguel de Allende (municipality), San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the t ...

. In addition to offering domestic flights within Mexico, it serves as a gateway for international travel, connecting Central Mexico to various destinations in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It serves as a focus city for

Volaris Volaris (legally ''Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación S.A.B. de C.V.'') is a Mexican low-cost airline based in Santa Fe, Mexico City, Santa Fe, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City with its operating bases in Canc ...

and supports flight training, cargo, logistics and general aviation activities. Operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), Bajío Airport derives its name from the cultural region "El Bajío" (''the lowland''), which is situated within the

central Mexican plateau The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano (), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the United States border in the north to the T ...

. It ranks as the ninth-busiest airport in Mexico in terms of passenger numbers and the seventh-busiest for international passenger traffic. In 2022, the airport served 2,603,200 passengers, a figure that increased to 3,169,000 in 2024, marking a 21% growth compared to the previous year and becoming the ninth airport in Mexico to surpass three million passengers in a calendar year.

History

The airport was inaugurated in 1991 by President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, replacing the former San Carlos International Airport located in León. The growing industrial activity in the Bajío region and the massive migration of Mexicans to the United States in recent decades has been reflected in a substantial increase in international air transport demand. In 1999 the terminal went through an expansion project, improving equipment, and enhancing services for passengers. In February 2001, this airport received Air Force One during President George W. Bush's visit to Mexico. On March 23, 2012, the airport welcomed

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

, who arrived on a direct flight from

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, during his first and only visit to Mexico. At the end of 2015, work began on the construction of a parallel

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with Airport apron, aprons, hangars, Airport terminal, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as Asphalt concrete, asphalt or concrete, although sma ...

along the entire length of the

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

. In August 2016, the airport opened its first and only VIP lounge, while modernization and expansion work in the departure area and the entire terminal began, including the relocation of the customs and immigration checkpoint. Work was completed in mid-2018. Throughout its history, the airport has been served by various airlines, including

Aeromar Transportes Aeromar, S.A. de C.V, doing business as Aeromar, was a Mexican airline that operated scheduled domestic services in Mexico and international services to the United States, and Cuba. Its main base was Mexico City International Airport ...

, Aviacsa, Calafia Airlines,

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

Delta Connection Delta Connection is a brand name under which Delta Air Lines has air service agreements with domestic regional air carriers that feed traffic to their network by serving passengers primarily in small and medium-sized cities in the domestic mark ...

Interjet InterJet was a private jet charter operator in the Greek business aviation market. InterJet was based in Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal ...

, Mexicana, TAESA, and

TAR Aerolíneas Link Conexión Aérea, S.A. de C.V., operating as TAR México, previously ''TAR Aerolíneas'', is a Mexican regional airline based in the city of Querétaro, the capital city of the homonymous state. It operates scheduled flights to 34 national ...

Facilities

The airport is located between the cities of León and Silao in Guanajuato, at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''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 equipotenti ...

of above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It has a single

, designated as 13/31, with a length of and an

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

surface. The commercial aviation

apron An apron is a garment worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body to protect from liquids. They have several purposes, most commonly as a functional accessory that protects clothes and skin from stains and marks. However, other typ ...

provides nine stands for receiving

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

aircraft. The

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

apron offers stands for fixed-wing aircraft, in addition to

heliports A heliport is a small airport which has a helipad, suitable for use by helicopters, Powered lift, powered lift, and various types of VTOL, vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff area ...

for private aviation. The airport also includes a cargo area called ''"Puerto Interior,"'' which connects the airport with a freight rail and motor transportation hub. It is equipped to handle up to 26 flights per hour. The passenger terminal accommodates both arrivals and departures for domestic and international flights. The ground floor houses the arrivals area with customs and immigration facilities, the baggage claim area, and the departures section that includes a check-in area, a security checkpoint, and a departures concourse with gates 4-6 that provide direct access to the apron, enabling passengers to walk to their aircraft. From this departure concourse, access to the upper floor is available, which houses snack bars, souvenir shops, and gates 1 to 3, which are equipped with

jet bridges A jet bridge is an enclosed connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane, and in some instances from a port to a boat or ship, allowing passengers to board and disembark without heading outside and being exp ...

for boarding. Bajío Airport currently lacks direct public transportation services, requiring travelers to use other transport options. The airport provides both short-term and long-term parking facilities. Car rental services are available on-site, with rental counters for Hertz, Budget, Veico, and City Car Rental located in the arrivals hall. For intercity bus travel, Primera Plus and Unebus offer services to various destinations including León,

, Silao, Guanajuato, Purísima del Rincón, and San Francisco del Rincón. From León, passengers can connect to various destinations across Mexico. Advanced bookings can be made through shuttle services listed on local tourist websites, such as Viva Aerobus, Primera Plus, and Unebus. Gtoairport

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Destination maps

Statistics

Passengers

Top destinations

;Notes

Accidents and incidents

*On 17 September 2021, a VivaAerobús

Airbus A320-200 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

, registered XA-VAP, experienced an engine failure shortly after takeoff from El Bajío. The aircraft landed safely after circling the airport and burning fuel for 25 minutes.