About Us
About Us
El Aeropuerto de Scorpion Bay is a newly opened airport in Baja California Sur, Mexico, situated roughly two thirds of the way between Tijuana and Cabo San Lucas. This airport’s multi-year development was spearheaded by two pilots from Southern California, Fred Borrelli and Phil Benham.
“I’ve been flying twins for almost three decades and have owned seven [Cessna] 310’s during that time. When I stepped up into the 421, a cabin-class airplane, I was able to realize it was easy for me to get behind as I entered my seventies. So, I hired Phil [who also had significant experience flying in Baja] and he has done a great job stepping in on my airplane.”
These two figured that an airport would be a much-needed investment in the small pueblo of less than a thousand people, where Borrelli developed an oceanside inn, Scorpion Bay Hotel.
Due to the remoteness of the region, the runway is a pipeline to the small fishing village. The membership-only airport serves not only tourists coming to experience its world-renowned waves but will also be used as a critical asset in getting needed supplies to Borrelli’s hotel, Scorpion Bay Hotel, and others in town.
“It’s an interesting story, because we are the first new airport in Baja in 25 years. There were other airports in San Juanico prior to this. This included one that was right in the middle of town, which was not kept up and closed. Another nearby airport was only about 1,800 feet long with an extreme drop off into a canyon. I looked into purchasing that one, but there was no way to fill in that drop off and lengthen the runway. So, I decided to get 11 hectares, about 27 acres, which would be large enough for what we had planned. It took a lot for me to go to Mexico City, to start at the top under the Secretary of Communications and actually have a gringo get a permit to build an aerodrome,” Borrelli began.

Presently, Scorpion Bay Airport boasts a 3,200-foot-long by 200-foot-wide hard packed caliche (a hardened calcium carbonate material) runway, although Borrelli and Benham report that it could eventually be lengthened by 1,000 feet and be paved if future demand warrants. “We began developing the airport in 2013 and it was a lengthy process to complete the runway, with a lot of stakeholders involved. If you don’t have the buy-in of all the needed people up front, then it’s just not going to happen. We worked hard to keep everybody apprised of what we were doing, even when we had these incredibly long periods of nothing happening. You have to be persistent and keep it going because it does take time in Baja and if you get too anxious or frustrated, you’ll just drive yourself crazy,” Benham said. “We had an initial operation date in December of 2022, when we flew the 421 and landed here. All of the naysayers just had to say, ‘Wow, they did it!’ That was a huge day for us and set the tone for the future,” he enthusiastically added. There was considerable work required to get to this stage, much more than there would have been for a similar airport in the United States. Much of this effort can be attributed to the level of government involvement, from the federal level on down to the local jurisdiction. The Scorpion Bay development team consisted of multiple parties, including a local architect who helped ensure the conceptualization and construction stages went as planned. “Our architect handled the whole project and was kind of like what we would consider a general contractor. Down there, their name is on the project, so they want to make sure that it gets built to his specifications. He helped us hire locals, so that they would have work there. It was amazing what they did to put the hangars’ roofs on, for example, in the middle of nowhere. The guys were basically using two ropes and a pole, there were no cranes or cherry pickers to hold anything up,” Borrelli said. Benham provided an overview of one of the other challenges they faced when creating the airport’s infrastructure, selecting and grading acreage to be used for the runway. Local fauna and flora needed to be moved in order for the team to get permission to move forth with the development.

“Our biggest goal with the airport is that we wanted to develop it with both the social and environmental concerns incorporated from the beginning into the plans. We wanted to have an airport that supports the local community, that’s there for emergency purposes, and we also wanted to be good neighbors and patrons of the environment. One part of our earth-centric basis was moving almost 1,200 plants off of this property. There were indigenous lizards, cacti of varying types, and other species, all of which had to be documented. The environmentalists, that we paid for, collected all of these rare or under duress species and moved them off to another site. This was a major effort that we undertook before ever even touching the dirt to begin creating the runway” He continued, advising how this landing surface was built. “One of the key things that we found was finding the materials to put the proper surface together for a runway down there is very critical. You don’t want it to be sandy or rocky and there is a material called caliche, which is calcium carbonate material out of degraded clamshells. It’s very compatible. We were moving all of the topsoil off of the runway and thought we were going to have to bring in a lot of caliche but ended up finding a vein of it under the surface. It was fourteen inches under the surface, so we mined all of our own caliche and surfaced the runway. The aviation Gods were taking care of is in that regard!”
So far, the pair of aviators note that interest in memberships has been good, although they are currently working to bring the airport to the attention of more pilots. They say that the leading factor that sets them apart from other international domestic airports is the level of care they spent in creating the site. “We are a legitimate and well-organized group. From the beginning, it was a very well thought out project. Even though we are operating in Mexico, I don’t think there is anyone who can say that we have cut any corners or not paying attention to the details. The inspector who came out of Loreto, the comandante (local governing authority for aviation), has been in Baja California for over 35 years and has seen dozens of airports built. He told me personally that this is the best engineered and best built airport that he has seen in his career. We did not fail a single issue on our inspection for our final permit, between the fire extinguishers, the ramp areas, the fencing, the signage, and all of the things that usually get skimped on,” Benham stated. “Right now, we have our two hangars built and we are looking to build three more hangars that we currently have planned, with ten more approved in the future. We recently purchased a nice VHF radio base and are going to add an ADS-B node, so that we can keep track of aircraft that are coming to our airport. We also have a runway closure device system that we want to test out as soon, as well.” Surprising to some may be that the airport is staffed, which helps to ensure safety of the pilots and aircraft that fly into the private facility. After all, safety of those visiting was a foremost concern of Borrelli, who had hinted at the variable levels of personal well-being within the country — while also noting that San Juanico is a sleepy pueblo with “people who have hearts of gold.” “There are two full-time staff at the airport, who went to Loreto and took an airport management course. We are not a port of entry, but now in Baja you need a flight plan when going from airport to airport. They will be able to manage every flight that comes in, ensuring that the pilot has a valid pilot’s license, the plane is registered pilot, and that there is a manifest for everyone on board. We are required under law to monitor these things and provide a monthly report to the comandante. We are proactive in all safety regards,” Borrelli said. Outside of reporting to the authorities, member identities will not be shared outside of the Scorpion Bay organization.
Outside of reporting to the authorities, member identities will not be shared outside of the Scorpion Bay organization.
- Airport safety precautions are meticulously implemented to ensure the well-being of passengers and personnel. Stringent security measures, such as thorough baggage screening, body scans, and metal detectors, are in place to detect and prevent potential threats.
For more information about the airport, including membership opportunities, contact fly@scorpionbayairport.com.


