Paramonga, PE 🇵🇪 Closed Airport
PE-0039
-
16 ft
PE-LIM
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: -10.667° N, -77.833° E
Continent: SA
Type: Closed Airport
Keywords: SPPG SPPG
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The exact closure date is not officially documented. However, the airport is believed to have ceased regular operations in the latter half of the 20th century, likely falling into disuse during the 1970s or 1980s. Its decline almost certainly began after its primary operator, the W.R. Grace and Company, had its properties expropriated by the Peruvian government during the agrarian reforms of 1969.
The closure was primarily due to economic and political changes. The key factors were:
1. **Change in Ownership:** The airstrip was built for the W.R. Grace and Company's agro-industrial complex. After the 1969 expropriation, the new state-run management (Agroindustrial Paramonga S.A.A.) had different operational priorities and likely lacked the capital to maintain a private airport.
2. **Economic Obsolescence:** The improvement and paving of the adjacent Pan-American Highway made ground transportation for passengers and cargo to Lima (approx. 200 km away) significantly more efficient and cost-effective over time, reducing the need for a private airstrip.
The site is completely abandoned as an aviation facility. High-resolution satellite imagery clearly shows the faint but unmistakable outline of the former north-south runway. The surface is now dirt and gravel, heavily weathered and overgrown with vegetation. The area is crossed by numerous dirt tracks and appears to be used for local transit, informal agriculture, and as open space. There are no intact airport buildings, hangars, or any signs of aviation activity.
Paramonga Airport was a private airfield integral to the operations of one of Peru's most significant agro-industrial complexes, the Hacienda Paramonga, owned by the American multinational W.R. Grace and Co. In its active years, the airport handled:
- **Executive Transport:** Flying company executives and VIPs between Paramonga, Lima, and other company sites.
- **Urgent Cargo:** Transporting critical machine parts and supplies to maintain continuous operation of the sugar mill and paper factory.
- **Agricultural Aviation:** Serving as a base for small aircraft (avionetas) used for crop dusting and fumigation of the vast sugarcane plantations surrounding the town.
The airport was a symbol of the self-sufficient, vertically-integrated 'company town' model that W.R. Grace established in Paramonga.
There are no known official plans or credible prospects for reopening Paramonga Airport. The required investment to rebuild the runway, terminal, and support infrastructure would be substantial. Given the excellent road connectivity to the capital via the Pan-American Highway and the lack of a strong economic driver for a local airport, there is no practical or financial justification for its revival. The land is more likely to be fully absorbed by agricultural or urban expansion in the future.
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