Would you believe that I had never been to the Del Rio International Airport until last week? Pass by there all the time and when the new terminal was completed I considered stopping by but never did.
While it has been around for a long time it was more of a public airport. The type that if you owned your own airplane you flew yourself here. Only time I would see a lot of traffic was during the hunting season when private jets from Houston Oil and Gas companies would fly in their best customers to hunt in the area ranches. Other than that, it was pretty much dead.
Was never much of a commercial success, seems that whomever the city gave the concession to, due to lack of demand would go bankrupt. Per the local newspaper the air traffic has significantly picked up in the past ten years in part to the popularity of the bass tournaments held at Lake Amistad and film crews that come to cover such events.
The “Maquiladora” industry in Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico across the border from Del Rio seems to have generated a lot of traffic as well. The carrier used to be Continental now it is United Airways and there are two daily flights to Houston Intercontinental Airport where passengers can then make a connection to anywhere in the world.
This is a very small airport where you can park your vehicle for free and only have to walk a few hundred feet to reach the terminal. On our visit there were only two other people besides my mother and I. Maybe I need to come when the evening flight arrives to gauge the traffic, as there is no chance I will ever make the early morning one.
Have a great week!
