Long-Delayed Puerto Aventuras Airfield Moves Forward as Replacement for Playa del Carmen Runway

PUERTO AVENTURAS, Quintana Roo — State authorities have cleared a privately financed company to continue work on the unfinished Puerto Aventuras airfield, reviving a project intended to replace the increasingly landlocked runway in central Playa del Carmen.

José Alberto Alonso Ovando, head of Quintana Roo’s Secretariat of Sustainable Urban Territorial Development, or Sedetus, said the state will not provide additional public money for the work. A private operator is expected to complete the facilities and eventually provide services for charter flights, privately owned aircraft and tourism operators.

The project is more than a decade old. Construction began during the administration of former Gov. Roberto Borge, reportedly consuming more than 100 million pesos in public funding before being abandoned. Although the runway was built, the facility was never equipped or authorized to open.

“The runway was indeed built, but there was no passenger area, no safety equipment and no taxiways to connect to the terminal,” Alonso Ovando said.

More than a runway is still needed

Earlier project plans called for a passenger terminal, aircraft apron, taxiways, control tower, rescue and firefighting station, parking area and access roads. The site is west of Puerto Aventuras on state-owned land and covers nearly 100 hectares, although approximately 7.3 hectares were identified for the principal aviation infrastructure.

Land clearing for the terminal area reportedly began in early 2025. At that time, officials said the airfield could open before the end of that year. That deadline passed without operations beginning, making the latest announcement another step in a project that has already experienced repeated delays.

Sedetus has not announced the private company’s name, its expected investment, a construction schedule or a firm opening date. Officials have also not disclosed whether the operator will pay the state a fixed concession fee, a percentage of revenue or another form of compensation.

Most importantly, state authorization to continue construction does not by itself allow aircraft operations. The completed facility will still require the appropriate inspections and aviation approvals from Mexico’s Federal Civil Aviation Agency, or AFAC.

Puerto Aventuras does not appear in AFAC’s latest publicly available national database of authorized airfields and heliports, updated through April 21, 2026. The omission indicates that the facility was not yet authorized for aviation operations at that cutoff date.

Why Playa del Carmen’s runway is expected to close

The Playa del Carmen airfield predates much of the development now surrounding it. As the city expanded, homes, businesses and roads grew around the runway, leaving little separation between aircraft operations and densely populated neighborhoods.

Officials have repeatedly described that location as a safety concern. The airfield currently serves small private aircraft, charter companies, parachuting operations and tourism services rather than scheduled commercial airlines.

Moving those activities approximately 13 kilometers south would provide more room for aircraft operations and remove flights from the center of Playa del Carmen. It could also give private aircraft serving the Riviera Maya an alternative to Cancún, Cozumel and Tulum international airports.

The Puerto Aventuras facility is not being planned as another large commercial airport. Based on the uses described by state officials, it would principally serve general aviation: private planes, air taxis, charter flights and specialized tourism services.

No scheduled passenger airlines or routes have been announced.

What happens to the Playa del Carmen property?

Closing the existing runway would free a large and strategically located piece of land extending from the urban center toward Federal Highway 307. That makes its future almost as significant as the airfield relocation itself.

The property has been the subject of a lengthy ownership dispute. In July 2026, it was reported that Banca Mifel, acting as trustee, withdrew an injunction proceeding through which it had claimed two parcels occupied by the airfield. As a result, the Quintana Roo government retained ownership of the land.

No final redevelopment plan has been presented. Any change in land use would also have to fit within Playa del Carmen’s urban development program and involve coordination between state and municipal authorities.

Given the property’s size and central location, future possibilities could include roads, public facilities, parks, housing or commercial development. For now, however, those remain possibilities rather than approved plans.

No closure date yet

Officials say the Playa del Carmen runway will close only after the Puerto Aventuras facility can safely receive its operations. That means completing the terminal and safety infrastructure, resolving access requirements and obtaining federal aviation authorization.

The plan is moving again, but several important questions remain unanswered: who will operate the new airfield, how much the company will invest, when construction will finish and when AFAC approval might be secured.

Until those details are announced, both the opening of the Puerto Aventuras airfield and the closure of Playa del Carmen’s runway should be treated as planned—not scheduled.