Gran Canaria Airport

Gran Canaria Airport Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria
IATA: LPA – ICAO: GCLP
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea
Operator	Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea1
Serves	Gran Canaria
Location	Telde and Ingenio, Spain
Hub for	Binter Canarias Naysa
Elevation AMSL	24 m / 78 ft
Coordinates	27°55′55″N 015°23′12″W / 27.93194°N 15.38667°W / 27.93194; -15.38667Coordinates: 27°55′55″N 015°23′12″W / 27.93194°N 15.38667°W / 27.93194; -15.38667
Map
LPA Location within the Canary Islands
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 03L/21R 3,100 10,171 Asphalt concrete 03R/21L 3,100 10,171 Asphalt concrete
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 10,315,732 Passenger change 13-14 5.6% Aircraft Movements 95,483 Movements change 12-13 4.9%
Sources: Passenger Traffic, AENA[1] Spanish AIP, AENA[2]

Gran Canaria Airport (IATA: LPA, ICAO: GCLP), (sometimes also known as Gando Airport and frequently, but incorrectly, referred to as "Las Palmas Airport"), (Spanish: Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria) 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 fifth position in terms both of passengers and cargo transported, and fourth in terms of operations. It is also ranks first of the Canary Islands in all three categories.

In 2011 it handled over 10.5 million passengers, an 11.1% increase compared to 2010, and 23,7 million tonnes of cargo (-3,5%).^[1] Gran Canaria Airport remains as a relevant connecting airport for passengers travelling to West Africa (Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde, among others) and to the Atlantic Isles of Madeira and the Azores. It is the operative base for Binter Canarias, NAYSA, Islas Airways, Ryanair and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Other airlines operate a base for connecting charter flights to Cape Verde and Gambia (TUIfly and TUIfly Nordic), only in winter season.

The airport is located in the eastern part of Gran Canaria on the Bay of Gando (Bahía de Gando), 19 km (12 mi) south^[2] of center of the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and 25 km (16 mi) from the popular tourist areas in the south.

The airport was an official alternative (emergency) landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle, before the ending of Space Shuttle programme in July 2011.^[3]

History

In 1919, Frenchman Pierre George Latécoère was granted clearance from the French & Spanish governments to establish an airline route between Toulouse & Casablanca. This also included stopovers in Malaga, 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.

In 1946, the old passenger terminal opened, which took two years to build.^[4] In 1948 a runway was built, which was completed and fully tarmaced 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 that is being used to operate flights today. The new terminal 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.

Currently Gran Canaria airport is under renovation. Among the improvements are 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 will be fully active in 2014 doubling the previous area. There is also a plan for the building of a new runway for the airport.

Terminal

The airport has one terminal which opened in March 1973. It was later extended in October 1991 to increase passenger traffic. Despite being a building of historical interest, in 2013 the original passenger terminal building, opened in 1946, was demolished to make way for a further extension which opened in 2014.

There are four check-in zones identified by the numbering of the check-in desks. Desks in the range from 101 to 118 are in the newest part of the airport (which opened on 16 July 2014) and serve exclusively flights operated by CanaryFly and Binter Canarias (mainly inter-island flights between the Canary Islands or to Morocco). Desks in the range from 201 to 234 are located in the first part of the "new" airport which opened in 1973. This area is currently providing "overflow" capacity to the 300 zone as no handling agent has, as yet, relocated their check-in operations to this zone following its recent refurbishment. Desks in the range from 301 to 352 are in the second part of the "new" airport which originally opened in 1991 and are used for flights handled by Iberia and Ground Force (Globalia Handling). Desks in the range from 401 to 406 are located downstairs between the police station and the car rental offices (Hertz, Europcar, CICAR, Top Car AutoReisen, Gold Car and Avis Rent a Car System ) and are used exclusively by Ryanair.

There are two security filters where passengers pass from the general public areas into the departures area. At these security filters passengers and their hand luggage is scanned to ensure no prohibited items pass. The main security filter is located between check-in zones 200 and 300. There is a second filter located in the 100 check-in zone which is intended to serve exclusively passengers of CanaryFly and Binter Canarias.

The terminal departures area is split into four zones (A, B, C and D). Zone A is for flights to the other Canary Islands, Zones B and C are for European Union and Scandinavian flights and Zone D is for other international flights. The gates in Zone A are at ground floor level to the Northern end of the terminal. Other gates are on the first floor (the same level as the security filters into departures) those in Zone D featuring additional security to allow for the screening of international passengers.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Zone
Aer Lingus	Dublin Seasonal: Cork	C
Air Berlin	Berlin–Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg Seasonal: Dresden, Hannover, Leipzig/Halle, Stuttgart	C
Air Europa	Asturias, Bilbao, Madrid, Málaga, Santiago de Compostela, Seville Seasonal charter: Cork, Hamburg	A
Air Méditerranée	Seasonal: Toulouse (begins 11 July 2015)[5]	A
Air VIA	Charter: Bremen, Münster/Osnabrück	A
Arkefly	Amsterdam	A
Austrian Airlines	Linz, Salzburg, Vienna	A
Binter Canarias operated by Air Nostrum	Dakar	B
Binter Canarias operated by Naysa	Funchal, Lisbon	A
Binter Canarias operated by Naysa	Agadir, Banjul, Casablanca, El Aaiún, Marrakech, Praia	B
Binter Canarias operated by Naysa	El Hierro, Fuerteventura, La Palma, Lanzarote, Tenerife–North, Tenerife–South	C
Blue Panorama Airlines	Charter: Milan–Malpensa	A
British Airways	Seasonal: London–Gatwick	A
Brussels Airlines	Seasonal: Brussels (begins 28 October 2015)[6]	A
CanaryFly	Dakhla, El Aaiún, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Nouadhibou, Tenerife–North	B, C
Condor	Berlin-Schönefeld, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Paderborn/Lippstadt, Stuttgart, Hannover	A
Corendon Dutch Airlines	Amsterdam	A
easyJet	London–Gatwick	A
easyJet Switzerland	Basel/Mulhouse	A
Edelweiss Air	Zürich	A
EuroAtlantic Airways	Lisbon	A
Europe Airpost	Charter: Paris–Orly, Rouen	A
Finnair	Helsinki, Oulu	A
Germania[7]	Bremen, Erfurt/Weimar, Münster/Osnabrück (begins 3 May 2015),[8] Rostock Winter seasonal: Berlin-Schönefeld, Dresden	A
Germanwings	Stuttgart, Cologne/Bonn	A
Iberia	Dakar, Madrid	A
Iberia operated by Air Nostrum	Seasonal: Alicante, Badajoz, Granada, León, Salamanca, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Valencia, Valladolid	A
Iberia Express	London-Heathrow	5
Jet2.com	Belfast–International (begins 12 May 2015), Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne Seasonal: East Midlands	A
Jetairfly	Brussels, Charleroi, Liège, Ostend/Bruges	A
Jet Time	Charter: Copenhagen	A
Luxair	Luxembourg	A
Lufthansa	Seasonal: Munich[9]	A
Meridiana	Rome–Fiumicino	A
Mauritania Airlines International	Nouadhibou, Nouakchott	B
Monarch Airlines	Birmingham, Seasonal: Manchester	A
Neos	Seasonal: Milan–Malpensa, Verona	A
Niki	Salzburg, Vienna Seasonal: Graz	A
Nordwind Airlines	Seasonal charter: Moscow–Sheremetyevo	B
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Berlin-Schönefeld, Bodø, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Harstad/Narvik, Helsinki, London–Gatwick, Moss, Munich, Oslo–Gardermoen, Oulu, Sandefjord (ends 25 March 2015), Stavanger-Sola, Stockholm–Arlanda, Tromsø, Trondheim-Værnes, Warsaw–Chopin Seasonal: Aalborg, Bergen, Billund, Goteborg-Landvetter, Haugesund, Karlstad, Malmö, Umeå	A
Novair	Charter: Goteborg-Landvetter, Stockholm–Arlanda	A
Primera Air	Charter: Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal charter: Aalborg,[10] Billund, Goteborg-Landvetter, Helsinki	A
Privilege Style operated by Swiftair	Porto	A
Royal Air Maroc	Casablanca, El Aaiún	B
Ryanair	Barcelona, Bergamo, Birmingham, Bremen, Bristol, Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn (begins 31 October 2015) , Dublin, East Midlands, Eindhoven, Hahn, London–Stansted, Madrid, Manchester, Pisa, Prestwick, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Valencia, Warsaw–Modlin, Weeze Summer seasonal: Baden-Baden/Karlsruhe, Bournemouth, Cork, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London Luton, Porto, Santander Winter seasonal: Moss, Stockholm-Skavsta	A
SATA Air Açores	Funchal, Ponta Delgada, Porto Santo	A
Scandinavian Airlines	Oslo–Gardermoen, Copenhagen Charter: Ålesund, Bergen, Billund, Copenhagen, Goteborg-Landvetter, Haugesund, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim	A
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Airlines[11]	Prague	A
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Polska[11]	Winter seasonal: Warsaw–Chopin	A
SunExpress Deutschland	Düsseldorf	A
Thomas Cook Airlines	Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Exeter, Glasgow, London–Gatwick, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne	A
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium	Brussels, Liège, Ostend/Bruges	A
Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia	Billund, Copenhagen, Göteborg–Landvetter, Helsinki, Karlstad, Jönköping, Malmö, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda	A
Thomson Airways	Aberdeen (begins 2 November 2015), Birmingham, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne Seasonal: Belfast–International, Bristol, Exeter	A
Transaero Airlines	Seasonal charter: Moscow–Domodedovo	B
Transavia	Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen, Rotterdam/The Hague	A
Transavia.com France	Seasonal charter: Paris–Orly	A
Travel Service Airlines	Seasonal charter: Dublin, Oslo–Gardermoen, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Stockholm–Arlanda	A
Travel Service Hungary	Seasonal charter: Budapest	A
Travel Service Polska	Seasonal charter: Poznań, Warsaw–Chopin	A
TUIfly	Basel/Mulhouse, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Karlsruhe/Baden Baden (begins 3 May 2015), Munich, Nuremberg, Saarbrücken (begins 24 May 2015), Stuttgart Seasonal: Boa Vista, Sal	A
TUIfly Nordic	Charter: Billund, Boa Vista, Goteborg-Landvetter, Helsinki, Kuopio, Malmö, Oslo–Gardermoen, Oulu, Stockholm–Arlanda, Umeå, Vaasa	B
Volotea	Nantes	A
Vueling	A Coruña, Barcelona, Bilbao, Málaga, Paris–Orly, Seville, Rome–Fiumicino	A
XL Airways France	Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle	A
White Airways	Charter: Lisbon	A

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Swiftair	Madrid

Statistics

	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
Source: Aena Statistics[1]

Busiest European Routes from Gran Canaria (2013)

Rank	City	Passengers	Top Carriers
1	Oslo Gardermoen, Norway	344,066	Norwegian Air Shuttle, SAS, Thomas Cook Scandinavia, TUIfly Nordic.
2	Düsseldorf, Germany	284,381	Air Berlin, Condor, Germanwings, Ryanair, TUIfly.
3	Stockholm Arlanda, Sweden	282,128	Norwegian Air Shuttle, Novair, Thomas Cook Scandinavia, TUIfly Nordic.
4	Amsterdam, Netherlands	272,572	Arkefly, Corendon Airlines, Transavia.
5	Helsinki, Finland	233,043	Air Finland, Finnair, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Thomas Cook Scandinavia, TUIfly Nordic.
6	London Gatwick, United Kingdom	219,831	easyJet, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways.
7	Frankfurt, Germany	189,384	Air Berlin, Condor, Ryanair, TUIfly.
8	Copenhagen, Denmark	183,623	Norwegian Air Shuttle, Thomas Cook Scandinavia, TUIfly Nordic.
9	Manchester,United Kingdom	177,156	Jet2.com, Monarch, Ryanair, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways.
10	Hamburg, Germany	151,915	Air Berlin, Condor, TUIfly.

Busiest Domestic Routes from Gran Canaria (2011)

Rank	City	Passengers	Top Carriers
1	Madrid–Barajas, Community of Madrid	1,459,672	Air Europa, Iberia, Ryanair.
2	Tenerife, Canary Islands	698,650	Binter Canarias.
3	Fuerteventura, Canary Islands	603,999	Binter Canarias.
4	Lanzarote, Canary Islands	602,409	Binter Canarias.
5	Barcelona, Catalonia	416,051	Ryanair, Vueling Airlines.
6	Sevilla, Andalusia	188,138	Air Europa, Ryanair, Vueling Airlines.
7	La Palma, Canary Islands	117,128	Binter Canarias.
8	Malaga, Andalusia	101,901	Air Europa, Vueling Airlines.
9	Bilbao, Basque Country	87,682	Air Europa, Vueling Airlines.
10	Santiago de Compostela, Galicia	84,327	Air Europa, Ryanair.

Busiest African Routes from Gran Canaria (2011)

Rank	City	Passengers	Top Carriers
1	El Aaiun, Morocco	33,332	Binter Canarias, CanaryFly.
2	Boa Vista, Cape Verde	24,670	TACV, TUIFLY
3	Dakar, Senegal	23,140	Iberia.
5	Sal, Cape Verde	22,523	TACV, TUIFLY
6	Nouadhibou, Mauritania	18,135	CanaryFly, Mauritania Internacional Airways.
7	Praia, Cape Verde	10,712	TACV
8	Marrakech, Morocco	9,934	Binter Canarias
9	Agadir, Morocco	9,648	CanaryFly
10	Dakhla, Morocco	3,175	CanaryFly

Ground transportation

The airport can be reached by several island roads from all points in the island. There are special bus service 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.

Military use

There is an airbase of the Spanish Air 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, Eurofighter Typhoon, CASA 212 and the Eurocopter AS 532 and Fokker F27 of SAR .^[12] 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 Force and unique by the big diversity of aeroplane that 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.^[13][14] 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.

MPAIAC bombing and Tenerife disaster

See also Tenerife airport 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. Ten minutes' warning was given to the airport authorities,^[15] who started to evacuate the building; the inside of the terminal was damaged and eight people were injured, one seriously. A later telephone call claimed responsibility for the explosion and hinted that a second bomb had been planted somewhere in the terminal building; the airport was closed and searched, necessitating the diversion of several incoming flights, including a number of large aircraft on long international flights, to Los Rodeos airport (later named Tenerife North Airport) on the nearby island of Tenerife. The resulting runway congestion on the small regional airport was a factor in the subsequent disaster at Los Rodeos, when just after 5pm two Boeing 747s originally bound for Gran Canaria collided on the Los Rodeos runway, resulting in 583 deaths, the worst aviation accident in history.

References

External links

Media related to Gran Canaria Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website

Airports in Spain Major international Alicante Barcelona–El Prat Gran Canaria Madrid–Barajas Málaga Palma de Mallorca Tenerife South Minor international A Coruña Almería Asturias Bilbao Fuerteventura Girona Granada Ibiza Jerez La Palma Lanzarote Lleida Menorca Murcia–San Javier Reus Santander Santiago de Compostela Seville Tenerife North Valencia Valladolid Vigo Zaragoza Domestic Algeciras Heliport Badajoz Burgos Ceuta Heliport El Hierro La Gomera León Logroño Melilla Pamplona Salamanca San Sebastián Unscheduled Albacete Castellón Castellón–Costa Azahar Ciudad Real Córdoba Huesca La Seu d'Urgell Madrid–Cuatro Vientos Madrid–Torrejón Murcia–Corvera Palma de Mallorca–Son Bonet Sabadell Teruel Vitoria