Barcelona Airport

Barcelona Airport (IATA: BCN, ICAO: LEBL), commonly known as El Prat Airport, is located 12 km (7.5 mi) southwest from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, lying in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans and Sant Boi.

The airport is the second largest in Spain behind Madrid Barajas Airport and the largest in Catalonia. It is a main hub for Spanair and Vueling and a focus city for Air Europa and Iberia. The airport mainly serves domestic, European and North African destinations, also having flights to Southeast Asia, Latin America and North America.

The Barcelona–Madrid air shuttle service, known as the "Puente Aéreo" (in Spanish), or "Pont Aeri" (in Catalan) literally "Air Bridge", was the world's busiest route until 2008, with the highest number of flight operations (971 per week) in 2007. The schedule has been reduced since February 2008, when a Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line was opened, covering the distance in 2 hours 40 minutes, and quickly became popular.

In 2010, over 29.2 million passengers used Barcelona Airport, a 6.5% increase compared with 2009, making it the 10th busiest airport in Europe.

El Prat today

Most of the traffic at Barcelona Airport is domestic and European, in which Spanair and Vueling have an operational base. However, the number of intercontinental connections is well below other European airports with their level of passenger traffic. The lack of intercontinental connections has been a constant cause of complaint and pressure by the authorities and Catalan groups in recent years, who want the airport to become a centre of world air traffic distribution and not just European.

In recent years the traffic of low-cost airlines has grown significantly, especially after the creation of operating bases by Vueling and Clickair at the airport. Vueling and Clickair merged in July 2009, now they operate under the name of Vueling. There are other low-cost airlines operating from the airport including easyJet, WizzAir, and Ryanair who have established a new base at the airport starting September 2010.

The airport has 3 runways, two parallel, nominated 07L/25R and 07R/25L (the latter opened in 2004), and a cross runway 02/20. There are two terminals: T2, which is the sum of the previous Terminal A, B and C and the new T1 opened on 16/6/2009. The two terminals have a combined total of 268 check-in counters and 64 boarding gates. Operations at the airport are restricted exclusively to IFR (instrumental flights), except for sanitary VFR flights, emergency and government.

A plan for expansion (Plan Barcelona) includes a third terminal building (also designed by Ricardo Bofill) and control tower. An additional runway (07R/25L) has also been built. Once these developments are complete in 2009, the airport will be capable of handling 55 million passengers annually (compared to 33 million passengers in 2007). The airport is slated to expand in area from 8.45 to 15.33 square kilometres (3.26 to 5.92 sq mi) by 2009. A further expansion is planned to be finished by 2012, with a new satellite terminal which will raise the capacity to 70 million passengers annually.

Badajoz Airport

Badajoz Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto de Badajoz) (IATA: BJZ, ICAO: LEBZ) is an airport located 13 km (8.1 mi) east of Badajoz, a city in Extremadura, Spain.

The airport shares its runway and control tower with the Talavera la Real Air Base (Spanish: Base Aérea de Talavera la Real), an air base of the Spanish Air Force, named for the nearby municipality of Talavera la Real.

Airlines and destinations

Iberia operated by Air Nostrum Barcelona, Gran Canaria [begins 27 July], Ibiza [begins 23 July], Madrid, Palma de Mallorca [begins 2 July], Paris-Orly [restarts 3 July], Rome-Fiumicino [begins 3 August], Tenerife-North [begins 27 July], Valencia

Asturias Airport

Asturias Airport, (IATA: OVD, ICAO: LEAS) is the main airport of Asturias, Spain, in Castrillón.

Asturias airport is located in Santiago del Monte, municipality of Castrillon, 15 km from Avilés, 40 km from Gijón and 47 km from Oviedo.

Traffic consists primarily of scheduled domestic flights to and from Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona, Tenerife Sur and Palma de Mallorca. Most international flights are to and from the United Kingdom, France and Belgium, as there are regular connecting flights to London-Stansted, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Brussels.

In 2007, the airport reached 1,560,830 passengers, managed 19,149 operations and moved 196 tonnes of freight.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations
Air Berlin Palma de Mallorca
Air Europa Lanzarote, Madrid, Tenerife-South
Air France operated by Régional Paris-Charles de Gaulle
EasyJet Geneva, London-Stansted
Iberia Airlines Madrid
Iberia operated by Air Nostrum Alicante, Barcelona, Brussels, Lisbon, Málaga, Seville, Valencia
Spanair Barcelona, Madrid
Vueling Barcelona

Almería Airport

Almería Airport (IATA: LEI, ICAO: LEAM) is located 9 km (5.6 mi) east of the city centre in South-East Spain, in the province of Almería. It is a modern airport, with arrivals and departures taking place on the main ground floor. It also has a terrace overlooking the runway.

Regular national and international flights arrive and depart at the airport. The domestic flag-carrier Iberia Airlines serves the airport while EasyJet flies from and to the UK. Numerous charter companies fly to and from the airport, making it the second most important airport in terms of foreign tourism in Andalucia.

Local bus line 20 links the airport with the city centre. Taxis and car rental companies are available, too.

There is signed access to the airport from the A7 "Motorway of the Mediterranean", through the AL-17 dual carriageway. The A7 links to many cities along the coast of Spain.

Air Berlin Palma de Mallorca
Bmibaby Seasonal: East Midlands
EasyJet London-Gatwick and London-Stansted
Iberia operated by Air Nostrum Barcelona, Madrid, Melilla, Seville
Iberworld Barcelona, Bilbao, Oviedo, Santiago de Compostela, Valladolid
Jetairfly Brussels
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg
Monarch Birmingham, Manchester
Ryanair Brussels South-Charleroi [begins 4 May], London-Stansted, Madrid, Weeze
Thomas Cook Airlines Seasonal: London Gatwick, Manchester
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium Brussels
Transavia.com Seasonal: Amsterdam

Alicante Airport

Alicante Airport (Spanish: Aeropuerto de Alicante, Valencian: Aeroport d'Alacant), (IATA: ALC, ICAO: LEAL), originally named El Altet, is the sixth busiest airport in Spain, and the main airport for the Province of Alicante and the Region of Murcia. The airport is situated 9 km (5.6 mi) southwest of Alicante and 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Elche in the municipality of Elche on Mediterranean coast. Up to eighty percent of all passenger flights are international. The largest numbers of passengers arrive from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. Popular domestic destinations are Madrid, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona. Both, international and domestic passenger traffic has been increasing significantly in the last decade.

In 2010, Alicante Airport handled 9,382,935 passengers, 74,474 flight operations and 3,113 tonnes of cargo, making it the sixth busiest airport by passenger numbers in Spain, and one of the 50 busiest in Europe. Furthermore, it is the busiest airport in the Valencian Community. The airport is the fourth largest base for low-cost giant Ryanair with 59 destinations served by the airline. The largest number of passengers is carried by Ryanair (3,152,724 passengers in 2010), followed by EasyJet (1,337,350). Air Berlin (620,671) is the distant third.

In March 2011, the New Terminal Area of the airport was opened. All flights arrive and depart from this new terminal. Terminals 1 and 2, which were in service before the opening of the new terminal are now closed.

The New Terminal Area is the only terminal currently in service. Terminals 1 and 2 have been closed since the opening of the new terminal, and their future is unknown.

New Terminal

The new terminal (denoted as Terminal N) was officially opened on 23 March 2011. All flight operations at the airport were moved to this terminal on the following day. The first flight that used the terminal was a Ryanair flight to Memingen.

The terminal has an area of 333,500m², which is more than six times the size of terminals 1 and 2 together. It includes 96 check-in desks, 40 gates, including 15 with airbridges, and 16 baggage reclaim carousels.

The terminal is split into two areas, the processor where the C Gates are held, and the dock where the majority of B Gates are located. Flights withing the Schengen Area use both areas of the terminal while flights to non-Schengen destinations only use the dock. This terminal was constructed to the east of Terminal 1.

Albacete Airport

Albacete Airport (ICAO: LEAB) is an airport located at the Los Llanos Air Base, about four miles south of the city of Albacete, Spain. The airport is served by road CM-3203. It began operation as a civilian airport on 1 July 2003. The first flight was flown by Hola Airlines to the Balearic Islands. Albacete and Ciudad Real Central Airport are the only public airports in Castilla La Mancha.

A Coruña Airport

A Coruña Airport (IATA: LCG, ICAO: LECO), formerly known as Alvedro Airport, is the airport serving the Galician city of A Coruña in northwestern Spain. The airport is located in the municipality of Culleredo, approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the city center. It is a part of the network of airports managed by Aena, a Spanish state-owned company responsible for airport management and air traffic control. In 2010, 1,101,208 passengers used the airport.

This first flight was operated by the Spanish Aviaco airline.

During 1964, Aviaco operated a Vigo-A Coruña-Santander-San Sebastián-Barcelona line served by Convair 440s. The routing proved to be spectacularly unpopular and unprofitable, and was discontinued after a year of service. A brief attempt in 1971 to run an identical routing was equally unsuccessful. By the end of the 1960s, the airport had begun receiving charter flights from Switzerland and London, England.

On 13 August 1973, Aviaco Flight 118 crashed in the nearby town of Montrove while attempting to land in A Coruña. All eighty five people on board perished, as well as one person on the ground.

A customs office was opened in 1979, and an air traffic control room was added in 1990. A number of improvements were made during the 1980s, including an increase of runway gradation of 1 degree 12 minutes and the installation of an Instrument Landing System (ILS).

By 1994, yearly passenger numbers had surpassed 259,000. Further expansion of the airport and its facilities, including a new terminal building, as well as the urbanization of the surrounding area has prompted continuous growth and the increasing popularity of the airport. In 2001, the airport installed jet bridges and a cargo terminal. Currently the airport has a single runway (04/22), 1,940 metres (6,360 ft) long, and is capable of supporting up to 12 take offs and landings per hour.

Current and future projects include the expansion of parking facilities, an upgrade of the ILS system from Category II to Category III, a short runway expansion, and expanded aircraft parking facilities.