Santa Clara Sur Airport

The definitive closure was a deliberate action to prevent its use for illicit activities. Remote, unmonitored airstrips in this border region are highly susceptible to being used by drug trafficking organizations. Mexican authorities have a history of disabling such runways by digging trenches or building berms across them. This, combined with economic factors such as a decline in general aviation tourism and the high cost of maintaining a remote facility, led to its permanent abandonment.

The site is completely abandoned and derelict. High-resolution satellite imagery clearly shows the faint outline of the former runway. However, the runway has been intentionally and systematically disabled with large earthen berms or trenches cut across its surface at regular intervals, making any landing impossible. The area is overgrown with desert vegetation, and there are no remaining buildings, hangars, or any other aviation infrastructure. The site is now simply undeveloped desert land, with its past as an airfield only visible from above.

Santa Clara Sur Airport was a small, general aviation airfield. Its primary purpose was to support the local tourism and fishing industry centered around the nearby town of El Golfo de Santa Clara. It catered to private pilots, many from the United States (particularly Arizona and California), who would fly their small aircraft in for recreational fishing trips and vacations on the Gulf of California. The airport was very basic, consisting of a single compacted dirt/sand runway (approximately 4,100 feet / 1,250 meters) and minimal to no permanent infrastructure. It represented a common type of remote, tourism-focused airstrip that dotted Baja California and Sonora during the mid-to-late 20th century.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Santa Clara Sur Airport. The cost to clear, regrade, and rebuild the runway and any associated facilities would be substantial. Given the deliberate action taken to disable it and the lack of any new economic driver for a small, remote airfield, its revival is extremely unlikely. Any air traffic needs for the broader San Luis Río Colorado municipality are served by the much larger, paved San Luis Río Colorado International Airport (IATA: UAC, ICAO: MMSL).