Samalayuca Airport

There was no single officially announced reason for closure. The airport was a small, private general aviation field (aeródromo), and its closure was likely due to a combination of factors common to such facilities:
1. **Economic Non-viability:** The cost of maintaining a runway, even an unpaved one, and any associated facilities can outweigh its utility for a private owner or small group of users.
2. **Shift in Ownership/Purpose:** The owner may have sold the land, passed away, or no longer had a need for a private airstrip.
3. **Obsolescence:** With the primary Abraham González International Airport (MMCS) serving the region, the need for a secondary, rudimentary airstrip diminished.
4. **Security Environment:** The period of its decline (late 2000s) coincided with heightened security concerns in the region, which may have made operating a remote, private airstrip less desirable or more complex from a regulatory standpoint.

The airport is completely abandoned and non-operational. Satellite imagery confirms that the site is in a state of advanced decay. The runway is no longer visible as a distinct strip; it is heavily eroded, overgrown with desert scrub, and crisscrossed by informal dirt tracks. Any buildings that may have existed are either gone or in ruins. The land has reverted to open desert and is unusable for any aviation purposes. It is effectively a ghost airport.

Samalayuca Airport was never a major commercial or military hub. Its significance was purely local, serving as a private general aviation airstrip.
- **Operations:** It primarily handled small, single-engine propeller aircraft for recreational flying, private business transport, and potentially agricultural purposes (e.g., crop dusting) for the surrounding rural areas south of Ciudad Juárez.
- **Infrastructure:** The facility was very basic, consisting of a single dirt or gravel runway (approximately 1,300 meters / 4,265 feet in length) and likely a small hangar or tie-down area. It offered a convenient, uncontrolled landing spot for private pilots away from the busier, controlled airspace of the main international airport.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Samalayuca Airport. The cost to clear the land, rebuild the runway to modern standards, and certify it for use would be substantial. Given that Ciudad Juárez is well-served by Abraham González International Airport (ICAO: MMCS) for all commercial, cargo, and general aviation needs, there is no practical or economic incentive to rehabilitate this remote and derelict airstrip. Its reopening is considered extremely unlikely.