San Felipe Airport

Military Conversion. The airport was expropriated and redeveloped by the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) to establish a permanent military base. This was a strategic decision during the height of the Mexican Drug War to increase military presence in a region heavily affected by organized crime, particularly the Los Zetas cartel. The location in Doctor Coss, Nuevo León, is strategic due to its proximity to the border with Tamaulipas, a key corridor for cartel operations.

The site is now a fully operational and fortified military base, home to the 12th Motorized Cavalry Regiment (12/o Regimiento de Caballería Motorizado) of the Mexican Army. The official name of the installation is Campo Militar 7-C 'Gral. Bgda. D.E.M. Absalón Castellanos Domínguez'. The original runway was improved and is actively used for military transport aircraft (such as C-295, C-130 Hercules) and helicopters. The facility includes barracks, administrative buildings, vehicle depots, and a perimeter wall. It is a key operational hub for the Mexican Army in northeastern Mexico and is strictly off-limits to civilian access.

Prior to its conversion, San Felipe Airport was a private/general aviation aerodrome. It primarily served the needs of local agriculture (crop dusting), regional business travel for ranchers and landowners, and private recreational pilots. It was a small-scale facility with a single runway and basic infrastructure, not equipped for commercial airline operations. Its significance was purely local, providing air access to a relatively remote rural area.

There are no plans or prospects for reopening the airport to civilian or public use. It has been transformed into a permanent and strategically vital military installation. Given the significant investment in its conversion and its ongoing critical role in national security operations in the region, it will remain under military control for the foreseeable future. Its function has fundamentally and permanently changed from a civilian airfield to a military base.