Departure
99%
vs 95% ▲ 4
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
General Rafael Buelna International Airport (MMMZ/MZT) serves the resort city of Mazatlán on Mexico's Pacific coast, offering a single long paved runway equipped with an ILS. It is a busy mixed-use field handling airline traffic, general aviation and flight training, and sits within a controlled airspace environment served by its own area control centre.
General Rafael Buelna International Airport is the principal air gateway to Mazatlán, a well-known Mexican tourist destination on the Pacific coast of Sinaloa. Named after Rafael Buelna, a military figure of the Mexican Revolution, the airport is owned and operated by Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte (OMA), in which VINCI Airports holds a significant stake. Alongside its scheduled airline traffic to and from Mexico, the United States and Canada, the field supports general aviation, flight training and tourism-related flying, making it a straightforward and well-equipped destination for a simulated VFR or IFR arrival.
The airport lies close to Mazatlán, on Mexico's Pacific coast in the state of Sinaloa, at coordinates 23.1615N, 106.265W. It hosts the Mazatlán Area Control Centre, one of only four such centres in Mexico, which provides air traffic services across the Mazatlán Flight Data Region covering the Baja California peninsula, the Gulf of California, the northern Pacific coast, Sonora and Sinaloa, and parts of Chihuahua, Durango and Nayarit. The Mazatlán Oceanic Area Control Centre (ICAO: MMFO) is also based at the airport, controlling one of Mexico's two Flight Information Regions, a vast area of the North Pacific Ocean bordered by Oakland Oceanic to the west, the Mexico FIR to the east, and the Central American FIR to the south.
The field has a single physical runway, 09/27, 8824 feet long with a hard surface, lit for night operations. Runway 27 is equipped with an ILS, giving an instrument approach option for arrivals from the west.
Arriving and departing traffic should expect to work Mazatlan Approach on 121.2 MHz, with ATIS available on 127.7 MHz, before contacting Mazatlan Tower on 118.3 MHz for the airfield itself. Runway 27 offers an ILS approach for instrument arrivals.
The airport is named after Rafael Buelna, a military figure who played a significant role in the Mexican Revolution. It is operated by Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte (OMA), and in December 2022 VINCI Airports completed the acquisition of a 29.99 percent stake in OMA, becoming the operator's largest shareholder and extending its involvement into Mexican airport operations under a concession running to 2048. The field has grown into an important node in Mexican air traffic control, hosting both the Mazatlán Area Control Centre and the Mazatlán Oceanic Area Control Centre.
Today the airport functions as Sinaloa's busiest airport for international passengers and the primary gateway to Mazatlán, with scheduled service to destinations in Mexico, the United States and Canada. Beyond its commercial operations, it supports general aviation, flight training and tourism-related flying, with a dedicated general aviation apron offering parking and heliport facilities for private aircraft alongside civil aviation hangars and cargo and logistics facilities.