Presidio Viejo Airport

The closure was due to economic factors and obsolescence. As a simple airstrip serving a very remote and sparsely populated municipality, its maintenance and operational costs likely became unsustainable for the local community. The gradual improvement of road infrastructure in the region and a lack of significant local economic drivers (such as major industrial projects, large-scale tourism, or mining operations) that would necessitate air access led to its eventual abandonment. There is no evidence to suggest it was closed due to a specific incident, accident, or military conversion.

The site is completely abandoned and defunct. Current satellite imagery shows the faint outline of the former runway, which is now heavily overgrown with desert scrub and bisected by informal dirt tracks. There are no remaining airport buildings, hangars, lighting, or any other aviation infrastructure. The land has effectively reverted to undeveloped desert terrain and is not being used for any formal purpose.

Presidio Viejo Airport was a small, unpaved airstrip of purely local significance. Its primary role was to provide general aviation access to the isolated community of Manuel Benavides in the Chihuahuan Desert. When active, it would have handled small, single-engine propeller aircraft (e.g., Cessna, Piper) used for private transport by local ranchers, business travel for agricultural or mining interests, and potentially government, medical, or air taxi services. It served as a crucial link to larger urban centers like Ojinaga and Chihuahua before ground transportation became more reliable. It never supported commercial airline traffic and consisted of little more than a basic dirt or gravel runway.

There are no known plans, proposals, or prospects for reopening Presidio Viejo Airport. Due to the small population of Manuel Benavides, the high cost of restoring and certifying even a basic airstrip, and the absence of any new economic justification, the airport is considered permanently closed and abandoned.