Flying to the Sea of Cortez

Got an hour or so and access to a private plane in Phoenix or Scottsdale ? If so fly down to Puerto Penasco and you can be at the beautiful Sea of Cortez in less time than you may have to wait at the border.

Most Private plane owners in Arizona how easy it is to fly their private plane to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. Crossing the border by air and going through customs brings up many questions. This article should help answer those questions and provide smooth flying into Puerto Peñasco.

There are two airports in Rocky Point. One is currently open for flights and the other is soon to open. The current airport is located on Highway 8 just north of town on the road from Sonoyta. It is in full operation and every time I drive into town I count how many planes or private jets are parked on the ramp. The number of planes keeps growing and it is amazing at the collection of jets that appear each weekend. In the past few years over a million dollars has been allocated to the airport and it shows. The airport looks new, freshly painted, updated and secure.

The airport known as Puerto Peñasco Airport (PPE). Currently at the airport, there are two runways, asphalt and gravel and overnight parking for your plane. There is a bilingual staff highly trained in international airport procedures, 24 hour security patrol, fencing surrounding the airfield and pilots area with services, public restrooms, rental car services, parking spaces and a straightforward process for designated airline officials and customs check.

The newest airport not yet open is scheduled to offer services sometime soon. It is located off of Highway 003 toward the Mayan Palace. When the new airport is going to open for international flights is not clear, I hear different time frames but the latest “rocky talk” states it will open first quarter of 2009. The runway is paved and striped. On the internet, there are photos from the Governor’s Conference of a few jets who landed and other jets that used the airport to park their jets on the runway.

The good news, no the GREAT news is when the new airport does open, tourism will increase, the market will become stronger and another wave will hit Rocky Point Mexico. What a good wave it will be, increasing services, offering international flights and making Rocky Point more accessible than ever. Offering new international flights (a regular route from Phoenix to Puerto Peñasco every day) would be fantastic and will someday become a reality.

After my quick and great experience in a private plane, I would jump on a commercial plane or a private plane and head on down to Rocky Point in a heart beat. No border to worry about, no traffic on the way down and no crazy drivers passing on the NO REBASE area on the road into Puerto Peñasco (if you are one of those drivers you know who you are, please be more cautious, it means NO PASSING). Yes, the new airport will be worth waiting for when it opens and offers regular flights.

In the meantime, crossing the border to Rocky Point with a small private plane is not as difficult as one may think.

To show how easy it is to all those Gringos who love to fly or have friends with a pilot’s license thinking about taking the flight, we recently chronicled the journey of a 4 passenger single engine Piper Comanche as it took flight from Phoenix to Rocky Point.

Author: Aniruddha Badola

Tags: Mexico, Plane, Point, Rocky