Gran Canaria Airport (IATA: LPA, ICAO: GCLP), (informally known as Las Palmas Airport, and formally known as Gando Airport), (Spanish: Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria), It is an important airport for Spanish tourism as it is the fifth busiest airport of Spain, and the first in Canaries. It is an airport located on Gran Canaria Island. In 2011 it handled over 10.5 million passengers, a 11.1% increase compared with 2010.^[1]

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 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and 25 km (16 mi) from the popular tourist areas in the south. The lengthy runways made the airport an alternative landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle.^[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 tarmacked in 1957.

In 1963, improvements to the airport were made. This included new parking spaces, enlargement of the terminal, a visual approach slope indicator system was built and a new control tower was built, replacing the old control tower that was constructed in 1946. The control tower was completed in 1966. In 1964, a transmission station was built.

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. From 16 February 2011, Ryanair will operate 30 routes from Gran Canaria, 12 of which are new.^[5]

Terminal

The airport has one terminal which opened in March 1973. It was later extended in October 1991 to slightly increase passenger traffic.

The terminal is split into three zones. Zone A is for European Union Flights, Zone B is for International flights outside the European Union and Zone C is for flights to the other Canary Islands.^[6][7]

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Gran Canaria Airport 2013

Currently Gran Canaria airport is under construction.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 2013 doubling the current area.

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.

Furthermore, Gran Canaria's main motorway GC1 runs directly past the airport providing fast transport links to Las Palmas in the North and to the popular tourist resorts in the South. The motorway has been upgraded and widened many times, particularly towards the South since the 1980s to cope with the increased levels of traffic caused by tourism.

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 F/A-18 Hornets, Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Mirage F1, Eurocopter AS 532, Fokker F27 of the Ala 46 .^[8] Ala 46 or 46 Wing, composed of 462 and 802 fighter squadron, defends the Spanish airspace around the Canary Islands.

There is also the Canary Islands Air Command (Mando Aéreo de Canarias MACAN). Canary Islands Air Command is the only organization territorialized Air Command Air Force General of Spain and its mission is the maintenance and preparation of air units located in the Canary archipelago, and the preparation of command.^[9][10]

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. Airport authorities had been warned of the blast 10 minutes before,^[11] 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 Rodeos runway, resulting in 583 deaths, the worst aviation accident in history.

References

External links

Media related to Gran Canaria Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Canaria Airport Official Website (English)
• Canaria Airport Official Website (Spanish)