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Adolfo López Mateos International Airport (MMTO) serves Toluca and, as a secondary field, the wider Greater Mexico City area, sitting at a lofty 8,461 feet above sea level in the State of Mexico. It is best known among pilots for its single very long runway and its role as the principal base for general aviation, charter and business jet traffic excluded from Mexico City itself. Its high elevation and long runway make it a distinctive and demanding destination for the simulator pilot.
Toluca International Airport, officially Aeropuerto Internacional Licenciado Adolfo López Mateos, lies in the State of Mexico and is operated by Administradora Mexiquense del Aeropuerto Internacional de Toluca. Opened in 1984, it has functioned as a secondary airport for Greater Mexico City since 1994, when general aviation was barred from Mexico City International Airport and redirected to fields such as Toluca. It is a hub for charter operators including Aerolíneas Ejecutivas, Aeromaan, Aviesa and Flymex, and for the cargo carrier TUM AeroCarga, as well as hosting aircraft maintenance and flight training activity. For a simulator pilot, its combination of high field elevation, a single exceptionally long runway and dense general aviation traffic makes it a notable and technically interesting destination.
The airport is situated in Toluca, State of Mexico, around 10 kilometres northeast of Toluca city centre and roughly 30 kilometres west of Mexico City, making it one of several airfields sharing the congested Greater Mexico City airspace alongside Mexico City International and Felipe Ángeles International Airports. Coordinates are 19.3371 N, 99.5660 W.
Toluca has a single physical runway, 15/33, laid out as a very long hard-surfaced strip: runway 15 measures 13,984 feet with lighting and an ILS approach, while runway 33 measures 13,246 feet and is also lit. The field elevation is 8,461 feet, making it one of the higher airports in North America and a factor pilots must account for in performance planning.
Toluca Approach can be reached on 128.9 MHz, with the airport's ATIS broadcasting on 127.8 MHz. Toluca Tower operates on 118 MHz. The field is equipped with an ILS, and runway 15 additionally offers CAT II/IIIA precision approach capability, a rarity in Mexico and useful for handling the sometimes poor high-altitude visibility.
Construction of Toluca Airport began in 1970 and the field opened in 1984, developed in part to relieve congestion at Mexico City International Airport, whose urban site constraints became increasingly limiting from the 1980s onward. A pivotal moment came in 1994, when federal legislation banned general aviation from Mexico City International Airport and redirected such traffic to secondary fields including Toluca, substantially increasing the airport's importance for business and general aviation. Toluca became a proposed component of a wider Metropolitan Airport System alongside Puebla, Cuernavaca and Querétaro. During the 2000s the airport became a major low-cost carrier hub, with Volaris and Interjet basing operations there from separate terminals until 2007; passenger numbers rose from 145,000 in 2002 to 4.3 million in 2008. Other airlines operating from Toluca in this era included Aeromexico Connect, Click Mexicana, Republicair and TAESA Airlines, with international services to the United States via Continental Express and Spirit Airlines, and to Caracas and Madrid via Conviasa and Air Madrid respectively. Following Mexicana's bankruptcy in 2011, Volaris relocated its hub to Guadalajara and Interjet shifted to Mexico City, leading to a sustained decline in passenger numbers through the following decade. The airport has since consolidated, reducing from four terminals to two, with operations centralised at the Domestic Terminal.
Traffic has rebounded since 2022 with the resumption of commercial services by Volaris, Viva Aerobus and TAR, bringing passenger numbers to almost 2 million by the end of 2025, though Toluca remains the largest metropolitan area in Mexico without international flight services, with most travellers instead using Mexico City International Airport some 50 kilometres to the east. Toluca continues to serve as the principal base in the Greater Mexico City area for executive and general aviation, hosting charter operators, an aviation maintenance base, air taxi and air ambulance services, and flying schools, alongside its role as a cargo hub for TUM AeroCarga.
