El Encinal Airport

No official reason for the closure has been published. For small, private airstrips like El Encinal, closure is typically due to one or more of the following factors:

1. **Economic Non-viability**: The primary user or owner (e.g., a local mine, ranch, or agricultural business) may have ceased operations or no longer required air support.
2. **Obsolescence**: Improvements in local road infrastructure may have rendered the airstrip's logistical advantages obsolete for transporting people or goods.
3. **Maintenance Costs and Liability**: The cost and legal liability of maintaining even a basic dirt runway may have become prohibitive for the private owner.
4. **Security Concerns**: In regions of Sonora, the Mexican government and military have been known to disable unregulated or remote airstrips to prevent their use by drug trafficking organizations. While there is no specific evidence this happened here, it remains a plausible reason for the closure of such facilities in the area.

The site is currently abandoned and unused as an airport. Satellite imagery of the coordinates (28.63637, -109.28781) clearly shows the remnants of a single, unpaved runway. The runway is overgrown and unmaintained, with visible erosion and vehicle tracks suggesting it may be used informally as a local access road. There are no airport buildings, hangars, or any aviation infrastructure remaining on the site. It is essentially a strip of undeveloped land.

El Encinal Airport was a small, private dirt airstrip (aeropista) with a purely local function. It never served commercial, scheduled, or passenger flights. Its significance was tied to the economy of the Bacanora region.

- **Operations Handled**: The airport exclusively handled general aviation traffic. This likely included small, single-engine aircraft used for:
- **Private Transport**: Transporting owners of local ranches or businesses.
- **Agricultural Support**: Potentially used for crop dusting or transporting supplies for the region's agriculture, which is famous for the agave used to produce the spirit Bacanora.
- **Mining Logistics**: Sonora is a major mining state, and the airstrip could have provided logistical support for nearby exploration or mining operations, flying in personnel, parts, and supplies.

The non-standard ICAO identifier (MX-2399) confirms it was not part of Mexico's primary, federally-regulated airport network and was likely registered as a private airfield.

There are no known or published plans, government initiatives, or private proposals to reopen El Encinal Airport. The prospects for its reopening are considered virtually non-existent. The small population of Bacanora and the availability of ground transportation to larger cities like Hermosillo mean there is no current economic or logistical demand for a local airport. Any reopening would require significant private or public investment to clear, grade, and certify the runway, for which there is no apparent justification.