Gran Canaria Airport

Gran Canaria Airport (Template:Comma separated entries) (Template:Langx) is a passenger and freight airport on the island of Gran Canaria. It is an important airport within the Spanish air transport network (owned and managed by a public enterprise, AENA), as it holds the sixth position in terms of passengers, and fifth in terms of operations and cargo transported. It also ranks first of the Canary Islands in all three categories, although the island of Tenerife has higher passenger numbers overall if statistics from the two airports located on the island are combined. The facility covers of land and contains two 3,100m runways.

The airport is located in the eastern part of Gran Canaria on the Bay of Gando (Bahía de Gando), Template:Cvt to the south of Las Palmas, and Template:Cvt from the popular tourist areas in the south. In 2014, it handled over 10.3 million passengers, ranking 1st in the Canary Islands and 5th in Spain by passenger traffic. Gran Canaria Airport is an important hub for passengers travelling to West Africa (Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde, among others), and to the Atlantic Isles of Madeira and the Azores. It serves as base for Binter Canarias, Canaryfly, Ryanair, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Vueling. Other airlines use it as a base to operate charter flights to Cape Verde and Gambia (TUI fly Deutschland and TUI fly Nordic), but only in the winter.

History

In 1919, Frenchman Pierre George Latécoère was granted clearance from the French and Spanish governments to establish an airline route between Toulouse and Casablanca. This also included stopovers in Málaga, Alicante and Barcelona. The airport opened on 7 April 1930, after King Alfonso XIII signed a royal order announcing that the military air force installations on the Bay of Gando would become a civilian airfield. In its existence, the airport has become the largest gateway into the Canary Islands, as well as the largest in terms of passenger and cargo operations, although the island of Tenerife has higher passenger numbers overall between the two airports located on the island.

In 1946, the old passenger terminal opened, which took two years to build. In 1948, a runway was built, which was completed and fully tarmacked in 1957.

In 1963, improvements to the airport were made. This included new parking spaces, enlargement of the terminal and the provision of a visual approach slope indicator system. In 1964, a transmission station was built. In 1966 a new control tower was completed, replacing the old control tower that was constructed in 1946. In 1970, work began on the current passenger terminal which opened in March 1973. During this time, a second runway was being built and this was completed in 1980.

On 18 February 1988, Binter Canarias announced that the airline's main base was to be established at Gran Canaria. The base opened on 26 March 1989. In October 1991, the terminal was enlarged with improved facilities so it could handle more passengers.

In December 2010, low-cost carrier Ryanair announced the opening of 3 new bases on the Canary Islands. In addition to Gran Canaria these include Lanzarote and Tenerife South. Ryanair presently operates 30 routes from Gran Canaria. The airport was an official alternative (emergency) landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle, before the ending of the Space Shuttle programme in July 2011.

As of 2011, there was a programme to expand the airport, extending the terminal and creating a new runway. In 2015 this major renovation of Gran Canaria airport was completed. Among the improvements was increasing the number of baggage belts, 16 to 24, check-in counters from 96 to 132 and gates, up to 40. The new terminal area is now fully active, doubling the previous area. There is also a plan for the building of a new runway for the airport.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Gran Canaria Airport: Template:Airport destination list

Statistics

Traffic figures

	Passengers	Aircraft movements	Cargo (tonnes)
2000	9,376,640	98,063	43,706
2001	9,332,132	93,291	40,860
2002	9,009,756	93,803	39,638
2003	9,181,229	99,712	40,050
2004	9,467,494	104,659	40,934
2005	9,827,157	110,748	40,389
2006	10,286,726	114,949	38,360
2007	10,354,903	114,355	37,491
2008	10,212,123	116,252	33,695
2009	9,155,665	101,557	25,994
2010	9,486,035	103,087	24,528
2011	10,538,829	111,271	23,679
2012	9,892,067	100,393	20,601
2013	9,770,253	95,483	18,781
2014	10,315,732	102,211	19,821
2015	10,627,182	100,417	18,800
2016	12,093,645	111,996	18,588
2017	13,092,117	118,554	18,045
2018	13,573,304	131,027	19,174
2019	13,261,228	126,451	19,739
2020	5,134,252	67,280	13,926
2021	6,899,523	83,983	15,853
2022	12,417,699	119,530	15,830
Source: Aena Statistics

Busiest routes

Busiest european routes from LPA (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Template:Flagdeco Düsseldorf	354,653	Increase 15%
2	Template:Flagdeco Amsterdam	347,277	Decrease 5%
3	Template:Flagdeco Manchester	311,392	Increase 6%
4	Template:Flagdeco Frankfurt	300,620	Increase 17%
5	Template:Flagdeco Oslo	296,887	Increase 19%
6	Template:Flagdeco London-Gatwick	283,531	Increase 23%
7	Template:Flagdeco London-Stansted	235,524	Increase 24%
8	Template:Flagdeco Stockholm-Arlanda	225,175	Increase 20%
9	Template:Flagdeco Copenhagen	225,032	Increase 2%
10	Template:Flagdeco Dublin	189,914	Increase 31%
11	Template:Flagdeco Birmingham	179,309	Increase 13%
12	Template:Flagdeco Bristol	171,246	Increase 28%
13	Template:Flagdeco Helsinki	164,262	Increase 17%
14	Template:Flagdeco Hamburg	154,240	Increase 24%
15	Template:Flagdeco Munich	148,202	Increase 9%
16	Template:Flagdeco Zurich	140,754	Increase 36%
17	Template:Flagdeco Brussels	135,714	Increase 3%
18	Template:Flagdeco Berlin	132,289	Increase 4%
19	Template:Flagdeco Cologne/Bonn	123,114	Decrease 14%
20	Template:Flagdeco Newcastle	122,252	Increase 21%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Busiest intercontinental routes from LPA (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Template:Flagdeco Laayoune	47,375	Increase 13%
2	Template:Flagdeco Marrakech	44,745	Increase 40%
3	Template:Flagdeco Nouakchott	37,801	Increase 29%
4	Template:Flagdeco Dakar-Diass	20,433	Increase 34%
5	Template:Flagdeco Sal	13,689	Increase 69%
6	Template:Flagdeco Casablanca	10,593	Increase 18%
7	Template:Flagdeco Dakhla	7,292	Increase 119%
8	Template:Flagdeco Nouadhibou	6,963	Decrease 49%
9	Template:Flagdeco Boa Vista	6,909	Increase 25%
10	Template:Flagdeco Guelmim	4,995	Decrease 14%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Busiest domestic routes from LPA (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Template:Flagdeco Madrid	1,606,855	Increase 12%
2	Template:Flagdeco Tenerife-North	901,701	Increase 14%
3	Template:Flagdeco Lanzarote	811,069	Increase 9%
4	Template:Flagdeco Fuerteventura	659,647	Increase 10%
5	Template:Flagdeco Barcelona	508,117	Increase 8%
6	Template:Flagdeco Seville	278,699	Increase 7%
7	Template:Flagdeco Málaga	242,673	Increase 22%
8	Template:Flagdeco La Palma	229,694	Increase 7%
9	Template:Flagdeco Tenerife-South	221,266	Increase 17%
10	Template:Flagdeco Santiago de Compostela	165,691	Steady 0%
11	Template:Flagdeco Bilbao	133,086	Increase 7%
12	Template:Flagdeco Valencia	100,997	Increase 4%
13	Template:Flagdeco Asturias	94,078	Increase 25%
14	Template:Flagdeco Palma de Mallorca	78,719	Increase 15%
15	Template:Flagdeco El Hierro	64,983	Increase 15%
16	Template:Flagdeco La Gomera	55,572	Increase 59%
17	Template:Flagdeco Granada	53,898	Increase 58%
18	Template:Flagdeco Vigo	44,788	Increase 19%
19	Template:Flagdeco Alicante	41,241	Decrease 9%
20	Template:Flagdeco Pamplona	33,490	Increase 20%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Ground transportation

The airport can be reached by several island roads from all points in the island. Bus services are provided by Global with their routes 5, 60, 66, 90 and 91.Template:Better source needed. There are also special bus services from most towns in Gran Canaria, but access by taxi is usual.

Gran Canaria's main motorway GC1 runs past the airport providing transport links to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the North and to the tourist resorts in the South.

Plans have existed for several years to construct a rail link connecting the airport to Las Palmas and Maspalomas. As of 2018, the Tren de Gran Canaria scheme was estimated to be underfunded by €1,500 million.

Military use

File:Gando F-18 1.jpg

Two F-18s of the Spanish Air Force taking off from Gando Air Base, which shares space with the airport

There is an airbase of the Spanish Air and Space Force to the east of the runways. Beyond several hangars opposite to the passenger terminal, the Gando Air Base (Base Aérea de Gando) contains ten shelters situated on the southern end of the eastern runway. They harbor the Ala 46 with F/A-18 Hornets, CASA 212 and the Eurocopter AS 532 of SAR. Ala 46 or 46 Wing, composed of 462 and 802 fighter squadron, defends the Spanish airspace around the Canary Islands. It is one of the biggest and most important air bases of the Spanish Air and Space Force and is unique for the wide variety of aircraft which it operates.

Military activity was most intense during the mid-1970s, at the time of the crisis of decolonisation of Western Sahara and its occupation by Morocco. Military crises in Western Africa, like the 2013 Mali intervention by France, made Gando Air Base the main air platform for operations in Western Africa area by NATO. In 2006 Spain proposed Gando Air Base as headquarters for the newly created US Africa Command (AFRICOM), but the AFRICOM HQ was ultimately based in Stuttgart (Germany).

The Canary Islands Air Command (Mando Aéreo de Canarias – MACAN) is based in the city of Las Palmas. Canary Islands Air Command is the only territorial general Air Command Air Force in Spain; its mission is the maintenance, preparation and command of air units located in the Canary archipelago. Any Spanish military airplane that lands in the Canary Islands is immediately put at the disposal of the Canary Islands Air Command, who can retain it and use it as long as necessary for missions within the islands. This happens sometimes with heavy military transport, antisubmarine warfare and early warning airplanes; the islands do not have these on a permanent basis. Once the plane is released by the Canary Islands Air Command, it can leave the Canary Islands and reverts to the Air Force Commands of mainland Spain.

The deployment base of Gando Air Base is the Lanzarote Military Airfield (Aeródromo Militar de Lanzarote). Lanzarote Military Airfield has permanently its own Air Force troops platoons and the radar for the air defence (the EVA 22, which covers the Eastern Canary Islands and the maritime area up to the Sahara), but it has no permanently based military planes, using the ones from Gando.

Other facilities

Canaryfly has its head office in Hangar L. Binter Canarias also has its head office on the airport grounds.

MPAIAC bombing and Tenerife disaster

At 1:15 PM on 27 March 1977, a bomb planted by the Movement for the Independence and Autonomy of the Canaries Archipelago (MPAIAC) exploded in a florist's shop on the terminal concourse. Fifteen minutes of warning was given to the airport authorities, who started to evacuate the building; the inside of the terminal was damaged and eight people were injured, one seriously.