Cuchillo Parado Airport

The airport was closed due to **economic non-viability and abandonment**. There is no evidence of a specific event like a major accident or military conversion leading to its closure. Instead, it suffered a fate common to many small, rural airstrips: a lack of sufficient air traffic and funding to justify the costs of maintenance. As a rudimentary dirt strip serving a very sparsely populated area, its operational costs likely outweighed its benefits, leading it to fall into disuse and disrepair over time.

The site is **completely abandoned and derelict**. Current satellite imagery shows the faint outline of the north-south dirt runway, but it is heavily eroded, overgrown with desert scrub, and unusable for aviation. A dirt road or track now bisects the southern portion of the former runway, rendering it permanently obstructed. There are no remaining airport structures such as hangars, terminals, or lighting. The site has reverted to open desert land and is not used for any other formal purpose.

Cuchillo Parado Airport was a small, local general aviation airstrip. Its significance was not national but regional, providing a vital air link to the remote community of Cuchillo Parado, which is historically famous as the 'Cradle of the Mexican Revolution' in Chihuahua. When active, it handled light, single-engine aircraft (e.g., Cessna, Piper) capable of operating from a short, unpaved runway. Its operations would have primarily supported:
- **Ranching and Agriculture:** Transporting personnel, supplies, and equipment for the large ranches in the surrounding Chihuahuan Desert.
- **Private and Business Access:** Providing access for landowners, business interests, or potential mining and geological prospectors.
- **Government and Emergency Services:** Potentially used for access by government officials or for medical evacuation from a remote area.
It was never a commercial airport with scheduled flights and did not have an IATA code.

There are **no known plans or prospects for reopening** Cuchillo Parado Airport. The region remains sparsely populated, and the nearby town is accessible by road. The economic case for rebuilding and maintaining an airport in this location is extremely weak. Given its advanced state of disrepair and the lack of any commercial or industrial driver for air traffic, its revival is considered highly improbable.