Gran Canaria International Airport:
Gran Canaria Airport (IATA: LPA, ICAO: GCLP), (informally known as Las Palmas Airport, and formerly known as Gando Airport), in Spanish Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria, is an airport located on Gran Canaria Island, Spain. It is the largest airport in the Canary Islands and the only airport in the islands with two runways, allowing it to have up to 53 landings and take-offs per hour.
The Airport is located to the east of Gran Canaria on the Bay of Gando (Bahía de Gando), about 18 km (11 mi) from the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and 25 km (15 mi) from the popular tourist areas in the south. It is an alternative landing site for the Space Shuttle.[1]
It is a hub for Binter Canarias Airlines.
[edit] History
The airport opened on April 7, 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. It is the fifth largest airport in Spain.
Gran Canaria international airport
[edit] Airlines and destinations
The airport has two terminals, one for European Union and Mainland Domestic flights (Terminal A), and the other for non-EU and interisland flights (Terminal B-C).
[edit] Terminal A
- Aer Lingus (Dublin)
- Air Berlin (Berlin-Tegel, Bremen, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Erfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Münster/Osnabrück, Nuremberg, Paderborn/Lippstadt, Zürich)
- Air Europa (Angelholm, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cork, Halmstad, Lanzarote, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela, Sevilla, Tenerife-South)
- Air Italy (Milan-Malpensa)
- Arkefly (Amsterdam)
- Austrian Airlines (Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Vienna)
- Blue Panorama Airlines (Milan-Malpensa)
- Clickair (Barcelona)
- Condor Airlines (Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Stuttgart)
- easyJet (Geneva, London-Gatwick)
- EuroAtlantic Airways (Lisbon)
- Finnair (Helsinki)
- Flyglobespan (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow-International)
- Hamburg International (Dusseldorf-Weeze, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Luxembourg, Saarbrücken)
- Iberia Airlines (Dakar, Madrid)
- operated by Air Nostrum (Alicante, Ciudad Real, Málaga, Santander, Santiago, Valencia)
- Iberworld (Basle, Turku)
- Islas Airways (Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife-North)
- Jet2.com (Belfast-International, Leeds Bradford)
- Jetairfly (Brussels-Charleroi)
- Monarch Airlines (London Gatwick, London-Luton, Manchester)
- Neos (Milan-Malpensa)
- Niki (Salzburg, Tenerife-South, Vienna)
- Norwegian Air Shuttle (Bergen, Oslo)
- Novair (Gothenburg, Oslo, Stockholm)
- Mauritania Airways (Nouadhibu, Nouakchott)
- Regional Air Lines (Agadir, Casablanca, Laayoune)
- SATA Air Açores (Funchal)
- Scandinavian Airlines (Oslo)
- Spanair (Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Malaga, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Valencia, Vigo)
Gran Canaria Airport, Terminal C
- Swiss International Air Lines (Zürich)
- TACV Cabo Verde Airlines (Praia)
- Thomas Cook Airlines (Belfast-International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Glasgow-International, Leeds/Bradford, London-Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle)
- Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium) (Brussels)
- Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia (Billund, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Oslo, Malmö, Stockholm)
- Thomson Airways (Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield, East Midlands, Glasgow-International, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted [Winter Nov-Apr only], Manchester, Newcastle)
- Transavia.com (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Eindhoven [seasonal], Groningen [seasonal], Maastricht [seasonal], Rotterdam [seasonal])
- Travel Service (Prague)
- TUIfly (Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin-Tegel, Bremen, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Leipzig/Halle, Memmingen, Münster/Osnabrück, Munich, Nuremberg, Paderborn, Stuttgart, Zweibrücken)
- TUIfly Nordic (Oslo)
- Vueling (Madrid, Sevilla)
[edit] Terminal B/C
- Binter Canarias (El Aaiún, El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, La Gomera, Lanzarote, La Palma, Layounne, Marrakesh, Tenerife-North, Tenerife-South)
- Cabo Verde Airlines (Praia)
- Edelweiss (Tenerife-South, Zurich) [seasonal]
[edit] Ground transportation
The Airport is accessible by several island roadways leading from all points in the island, as well as special bus service available from most towns within Gran Canaria. Taxi service is considered the most efficient way since the island has its own taxi services, and low fares.
[edit] 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 airbase contains ten shelters situated on the southern end of the eastern runway. They harbor F/A-18 Hornets of the Ala 46 fighter squadron, which defends the Spanish airspace around the Canary Islands.
[edit] 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. Airport authorities had been warned of the blast 10 minutes before,[2] so although the bomb damaged the inside of the terminal, the building was being evacuated at the time and there were no fatalities. However, eight people were injured, one seriously. Later, another telephone call was received claiming responsibility for the explosion and hinting that a second bomb was planted somewhere in the terminal building. The civil aviation authorities closed the airport pending a thorough search for the second bomb. The closure necessitated the diversion of several incoming flights, including a number of large aircraft on long international flights, to Los Rodeos airport on the nearby island of Tenerife (Los Rodeos is now known as Tenerife North Airport). The resulting runway congestion on the small regional airport was a factor in the subsequent disaster at Los Rodeos, when just after 5pm local time two Boeing 747s originally bound for Gran Canaria collided on the Los Rodeas runway, resulting in 583 deaths, the worst aviation accident in history.
[edit] Accidents and incidents
[edit] References
- ^ Space Shuttle Emergency Landing Sites
- ^ "Crash of the Century." Cineflix Productions.
[edit] External links
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