Girona–Costa Brava Airport

Girona–Costa Brava Airport Aeroport de Girona-Costa Brava
IATA: GRO – ICAO: LEGE
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA)
Location		Girona, Catalonia, Spain
Elevation AMSL		143 m / 469 ft
Coordinates		41°54′03″N 002°45′38″E
Website		www.aena-aeropuertos.es
Map
GRO Location within Spain
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
02/20	2,400	7,874	Asphalt
Statistics (2012)
Passengers			2,844,682
Passenger change 11–12			5.4%
Aircraft Movements			27,674
Movements change 11–12			0.4%
Source: AENA

Girona–Costa Brava Airport (IATA: GRO, ICAO: LEGE) (Catalan: Aeroport de Girona-Costa Brava, Spanish: Aeropuerto de Girona-Costa Brava) is an airport located 12.5 km (7.8 mi) southwest of the city of Girona, next to the small village of Vilobí d'Onyar, in the north-east of Catalonia, Spain. It is well connected to the Costa Brava, Barcelona and the Pyrenees.

The airport was built in 1965,^{[citation needed]} but passenger traffic was modest. The early 2000s saw passenger numbers grow spectacularly after Ryanair chose Girona as one of its European hubs. In 1993, Girona Airport dealt with only 275,000 passengers; but in the six years from 2002 to 2008 passenger numbers increased by nearly ten times from just over 500,000 to more than 5.5 million. In 2010, around 4.8 million passengers passed through the airport.

On the ground floor there are 33 check-in desks, with 11 boarding gates on the first floor for both domestic and international flights. You will also find a food gallery in the departures area of the airport and a few shops.

Many people use Girona Airport as an alternative airport for Barcelona, though the airport is 92 km (57 mi) north of Barcelona. Passengers can transfer to Barcelona by bus or taxi from the airport or by train from Girona railway station. Many car hire companies are also available at the airport terminal. Barcelona city centre can be easily reached in 60 minutes from the airport by road.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Aviogenex	Seasonal charter: Belgrade
Enter Air	Seasonal charter: Gdansk, Katowice, Warsaw
Europe Airpost	Seasonal charter: Marseille
Jat Airways	Seasonal: Belgrade
Jetairfly	Seasonal: Brussels
Ryanair	Alghero, Beauvais, Billund, Bologna, Bremen, Brindisi, Cagliari, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Frankfurt–Hahn, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Maastricht, Manchester, Marrakech, Pescara, Pisa, Trapani, Trieste, Weeze Seasonal: Aarhus, Bergamo, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bydgoszcz, Bratislava, Bristol, Charleroi, Cork, Doncaster/Sheffield, Dublin, Gdańsk, Gothenburg–City, Groningen, Ibiza, Jönköping, Kalmar, Karlstad, Katowice, Knock, Krakow, Lamezia Terme, Lappeenranta, Larnaca, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Lübeck, Magdeburg/Cochstedt, Malmo, Malta, Memmingen, Newcastle upon Tyne, Paphos, Perugia, Palma de Mallorca, Poitiers, Rzeszów, Sandefjord, Skellefteå, Stockholm–Vasteras, Tallinn, Thessaloniki, Tampere, Treviso, Wrocław
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium	Seasonal: Brussels
Thomson Airways	Seasonal: Birmingham, London–Gatwick, Manchester
Transaero Airlines	Seasonal: Moscow–Domodedovo
Transavia.com	Seasonal: Amsterdam, Rotterdam
Travel Service Airlines operated by Smart Wings	Seasonal: Prague
Wizz Air	Bucharest (begins 4 June 2013)
Wizz Air Ukraine	Kiev–Zhuliany

Ryanair at Girona airport

Departures zone

Arrivals zone

Statistics

Aircraft parking apron at Girona Airport

Transavia plane at Girona Airport

The following table shows total passenger numbers at Girona Airport from 1997 to date.

Year	Passengers
1997	533,445
1998	610,607
1999	631,235
2000	651,402
2001	622,410
2002	557,187
2003	1,448,796
2004	2,962,988
2005	3,533,567
2006	3,614,223
2007	4,848,604
2008	5,507,294
2009	5,286,970
2010	4,863,785
2011	3,007,649
Source: Aena Statistics

To and around the airport

Alongside being an alternative option to Barcelona Airport, Girona Airport is convenient for the resorts along the Costa Brava, such as Lloret de Mar, l'Estartit and Blanes. It is about a 40 minute drive from the French border and many people use Girona Airport as a way of getting to the Pyrenees and the ski resorts of Andorra.

By car

The airport is served by three main roads:

• E-15/AP-7 toll road (Perpignan, France – south of Spain)
• C-25 (Lleida – Vic – Girona)
• N-II, no-toll road (Madrid – Barcelona – Perpignan, France)

By bus

There are 6 bus lines operating in the airport:

• Airport – Barcelona (1 hour 10 minutes, departure times depending on flights. On Sunday the last bus leaves Barcelona at 7.15pm)
• Airport – Costa Brava/Maresme (Stops at Tossa de Mar, Lloret de Mar, Blanes, Malgrat de Mar, Santa Susanna, Pineda de Mar and Calella de la Costa),
• Airport – North Costa Brava (Stops at Figueres, Roses, Pineda de Mar, Calella de Palafrugell and Tossa de Mar)
• Airport – Girona (25 minutes, one every hour).
• Airport – Perpignan in France. Serviced by Frogbus. 6 times daily. Stops at Le Boulou.
• Airport – Andorra. Serviced by Frogbus. 2 times on Friday and Sunday. Stops at Vic

By train

The closest main line railway station to the airport is in Girona. The closest railway station is in fact Riudellots Halt, 4 km away from the airport. There is a project to build a station for the AVE line LGV Perpignan-Figueres.

Incidents and accidents

Main article: Britannia Airways Flight 226A

On 14 September 1999, at 21:47 UTC, a Boeing 757–204 charter flight from Cardiff, Wales, UK, with 236 passengers and 9 crew left the runway when landing in a storm and broke apart. After leaving the runway, it ran 343 metres across flat grassland beside the runway, before going diagonally over a substantial earth mound adjacent to the airport boundary, becoming semi-airborne as a result. Beyond the mound it hit and severed a number of medium-sized trees and the right engine struck the boundary fence. The aircraft then yawed considerably to the right, passed through the fence, landed again in a field, and its both main landing gears collapsed. It finally stopped after a 244-metre slide across the field.

Damage was substantial: the fuselage was broken in two places and the landing gear and both engines detached. Remarkably, there were no immediate fatalities but 44 people, including the aircraft's captain, received hospital treatment for severe to minor injuries.

External links

• Girona Airport official website (Aena)
• Current weather for LEGE at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for GRO at Aviation Safety Network