Gran Canaria Airport

Gran Canaria Airport Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria
IATA: LPA ICAO: GCLP
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	ENAIRE
Operator	ENAIRE
Serves	Gran Canaria
Location	Telde and Ingenio, Spain
Hub for	Binter Canarias Naysa Norwegian Air International Ryanair Vueling
Elevation AMSL	24 m / 78 ft
Coordinates	27°55′55″N 015°23′12″W
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 (2016)
Passengers 12,093,645 Passenger change 15-16 13,8% Aircraft Movements 111.996 Movements change 15-16 11.5% Cargo (tonnes) 18,588 Cargo change 15-16 1.1%
Sources: Passenger Traffic, AENA Spanish AIP, AENA

Gran Canaria Airport (IATA: LPA, ICAO: GCLP), (sometimes also known as Gando 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 sixth position in terms of passengers, and fifth in terms of operations and cargo transported. It is also ranks first of the Canary Islands in all three categories, although the island of Tenerife has higher passenger numbers overall due to the two airports located on the island.

The airport is located in the eastern part of Gran Canaria on the Bay of Gando (Bahía de Gando), 19 km (12 mi) south of center of the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and 25 km (16 mi) from the popular tourist areas in the south. In 2014 it handled over 10.3 million passengers, ranking as the 5th Spanish airport by passenger transit and the 1st airport by visitors in the Canary Islands. 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, Canaryfly, Ryanair, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Vueling. Other airlines operate a base for connecting charter flights to Cape Verde and Gambia (TUIfly and TUIfly Nordic), only in winter season.

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

As of 2011, there was a programme to expand the airport building a new terminal and a new runway. In 2015 a major renovation of Gran Canaria airport was completed. Among the improvements was 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 is now fully active, doubling the previous area. There is also a plan for the building of a new runway for the airport.

Terminal

Two F-18 of the Spanish Air Force in Gando Air Base which shares space with the airport

TUIfly Boeing 737-8K5 with the Eurofighters Typhoon of the Spanish Air Force

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. Although dramatically expanded over the years the airport remains a single terminal airport.

There are four check-in areas. Check-in Area 1 (desks 101 to 118) is in the newest part of the airport (which opened on 16 July 2014) and serves almost exclusively flights operated by CanaryFly and Binter Canarias (mainly inter-island flights between the Canary Islands or to Morocco). At times of very high demand check-in Area 1 may provide overflow capacity for Areas 2, 3 and 4. Check-in Area 2 (desks 201 to 234) is located in the first part of the "new" airport which opened in 1973. This area was completely refurbished in 2014 and is normally used for flights handled by Ground Force (Globalia Handling). Check-in Area 3 (desks 301 to 352) is in the second part of the "new" airport which originally opened in 1991 and is used for flights handled by Iberia and Ground Force. Additionally, airline Norwegian Air Shuttle have dedicated check-in desks and self check in podiums located to the southern end of Area 3. Check-in Area 4 (desks 401 to 406) is located downstairs between the police station and the main car rental offices (Hertz, Europcar, CICAR, Top Car AutoReisen, Gold Car and Avis Rent a Car System), and is 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 Areas 2 and 3. There is a second filter located in Check-in Area 1 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.

There are two arrivals areas numbered "1" and "2" both located downstairs at ground level. Area 1 serves all arrivals of flights originating within Spain and is located to the Northern end of the airport. Some of the car rental companies have additional counters in this area as it is a considerable walk to the main car rental area. Area 2 serves all international arrivals and is located to the Southern end of the airport. As the majority of arrivals served by area 2 are for tourist flights, many bringing passengers traveling on package holidays organised by tour operators, there is a large coach park (Parking A) located immediately in front of this area. Overflow coach parking (which is required only in the Winter months) is provided at the departures level (Parking B) and is accessed from arrivals area 2 via a purpose built pedestrian tunnel with stairs and travelators.

Iberia Airbus A340-642 at the airport

Gran Canaria Airport terminal

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Zone
Aer Lingus	Dublin Seasonal: Cork	C
Air Europa	Bilbao, Madrid, Santiago de Compostela Seasonal: Asturias, Málaga, Seville	B, C
AlbaStar	Charter: Bergamo	C
ASL Airlines France	Charter: Paris–Charles de Gaulle	C
ASL Airlines Ireland	Seasonal charter: Dublin	C
Atlantic Airways	Seasonal: Vágar	C
Austrian Airlines	Vienna	C
Azores Airlines operated by SATA Air Açores	Funchal, Ponta Delgada	C
Azur Air (Germany)	Charter: Berlin-Schoenefeld (begins 1 May 2017), Düsseldorf (begins 1 May 2017), Munich (begins 1 May 2017)	C
Binter Canarias operated by Air Nostrum	Banjul, Dakar, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, Lisbon, Nouakchott, Praia, Sal, Tenerife–North	A, C, D
Binter Canarias operated by Naysa	Agadir, Casablanca (begins 13 July 2017), Dakhla, El Aaiún, El Hierro, Fuerteventura, La Palma, Lanzarote, Marrakech, Tenerife–North, Tenerife–South Seasonal: Funchal	A, C, D
British Airways	Seasonal: London Heathrow	C
Brussels Airlines	Brussels	C
CanaryFly	Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife–North	A, D
Condor	Berlin–Schönefeld, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Stuttgart	C
Corendon Dutch Airlines	Amsterdam	C
easyJet	London–Gatwick Seasonal: Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle	C
easyJet Switzerland	Basel/Mulhouse	C
Danish Air Transport	Charter: Aalborg, Aarhus, Billund, Copenhagen, Gothenburg	C
Edelweiss Air	Zürich	C
Enter Air	Charter: Katowice, Kraków, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Poznań, Warsaw–Chopin, Wroclaw	C
Eurowings	Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Vienna	C
Eurowings operated by Germanwings	Cologne/Bonn	C
Evelop Airlines	Charter: Almeria, Asturias, Borlänge-Dala, Porto, Sundsvall, Tampere, Trondheim, Valencia	C, D
Finnair	Helsinki	C
Germania	Berlin–Schönefeld (begins 25 October 2017)Bremen, Dresden, Erfurt/Weimar, Friedrichshafen, Hamburg, Münster/Osnabrück, Nuremberg Seasonal: Rostock Seasonal charter: Toulouse	C
Germania Flug	Seasonal: Zurich	C
Helvetic Airways	Seasonal: Zürich	C
Iberia operated by Air Nostrum	Alicante, Valencia Seasonal: Asturias, León, Melilla, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Valladolid, Vigo	B, C
Iberia Express	London–Heathrow, Madrid Seasonal: Asturias	B
Icelandair	Seasonal: Reykjavík-Keflavík	C
Jet2.com	Belfast–International, Birmingham, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne	C
Jet Time	Charter: Aalborg, Billund, Copenhagen, Halmstad, Helsinki, Norrköping, Örebro, Oulu, Tampere, Umeå, Växjö	C
Luxair	Luxembourg	C
Lufthansa	Seasonal: Munich	C
Mauritania Airlines International	Nouadhibou, Nouakchott	D
Mistral Air	Charter: Milan-Bergamo, Rome–Fiumicino	C
Monarch Airlines	Birmingham, London–Gatwick, Manchester	C
Neos	Bologna, Milan–Malpensa, Verona	C
Niki	Berlin–Tegel, Cologne-Bonn, Düsseldorf, Munich, Vienna, Zurich	C
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Copenhagen, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal: Gothenburg, Stavanger, Trondheim	C
Norwegian Air Shuttle operated by Norwegian Air International	Barcelona, Bergen, Berlin–Schönefeld, Birmingham, Cologne/Bonn (begins 21 April 2017), Copenhagen, Düsseldorf (begins 4 May 2017), Hamburg, Helsinki, London–Gatwick, Madrid, Málaga, Munich, Oslo–Gardermoen, Sandefjord, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal: Bodo, Gothenburg, Karlstad, Manchester, Oulu, Rome–Fiumicino, Tromsø	C
Novair	Charter: Gothenburg, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda	C
Primera Air	Seasonal: Aalborg, Billund, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Malmö, Reykjavik, Stockholm–Arlanda	C
Royal Air Maroc	Casablanca, Dakhla, El Aaiún	D
Ryanair	Barcelona, Bergamo, Berlin–Schönefeld, Birmingham, Bologna, Bournemouth, Bristol, Charleroi, Budapest, Cologne/Bonn, Cork, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Frankfurt (begins 30 October 2017), Glasgow, Hahn, Hamburg, Kraków, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Madrid, Manchester, Milan–Malpensa, Pisa, Prestwick, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Valencia, Warsaw–Modlin, Weeze Seasonal: Bremen, Porto, Sandefjord, Stockholm-Skavsta	C
Scandinavian Airlines	Oslo/Gardermoen Seasonal: Copenhagen, Stockholm–Arlanda Charter: Ålesund, Bergen, Billund, Göteborg-Landvetter, Haugesund, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Trondheim	C
Small Planet Airlines	Charter: Frankfurt, Karlsruhe-Baden Baden, Paderborn-Lippstadt, Stuttgart	C
SmartLynx Airlines	Charter: Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius	C
SmartWings operated by Travel Service	Prague	C
SunExpress Deutschland	Düsseldorf, Nuremberg	C
TAP Portugal operated by TAP Express	Lisbon (begins 10 June 2017)	C
Thomas Cook Airlines	Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Exeter, Glasgow, London–Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne Seasonal: London–Stansted	C
Thomas Cook Airlines operated by SmartLynx Airlines	Seasonal: London–Gatwick	C
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium	Brussels	C
Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia	Bergen, Billund, Copenhagen, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal: Aalborg, Göteborg–Landvetter, Helsinki, Jönköping, Karlstad, Kuopio, Luleå, Malmö, Örebro, Stavanger, Tromsø, Trondheim, Turku, Umeå, Vaasa	C
Thomson Airways	Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich Charter: Dublin Seasonal: Belfast–International (begins 20 May 2017)	C
Transavia	Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen, Munich, Rotterdam	C
Transavia France	Charter: Paris–Orly	C
Travel Service	Charter: Lyon, Nantes, Paris–Charles de Gaulle	C
Travel Service Hungary	Seasonal charter: Budapest	C
Travel Service Polska	Seasonal charter: Poznań, Warsaw–Chopin	C
Travel Service Slovakia	Seasonal charter: Bratislava, Košice	C
TUI fly Belgium	Brussels, Charleroi, Liège, Ostend/Bruges	C
TUI fly Deutschland	Basel/Mulhouse, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Munich, Nuremberg, Saarbrücken, Stuttgart Seasonal: Helsinki	C
TUI fly Netherlands	Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen	C
TUI fly Nordic	Copenhagen, Göteborg-Landvetter, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal: Billund, Boa Vista Island, Helsinki, Kuopio, Malmö, Oulu, Sal Island, Umeå, Vaasa	C
Volotea	Bordeaux, Nantes, Toulouse	C
Vueling	Barcelona, Bilbao, Geneva (begins 6 July 2017), Málaga, Milan–Malpensa, Nantes, Paris–Orly, Seville, Rome–Fiumicino, Zurich Seasonal: A Coruña, Amsterdam	B, C
XL Airways France	Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle	C
White Airways	Charter: Lisbon	C
WOW air	Seasonal: Reykjavík-Keflavík	C

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Swiftair	Madrid

Statistics

Traffic figures

Gran Canaria passenger totals, 2000–2016 (millions)

Updated: 7 January 2017.

	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
2015	10,627,182	100,417	18,800
2016	12,093,645	111,996	18,588
Source: Aena Statistics

Busiest routes

Busiest European Routes from Gran Canaria (2016)

Rank	City	Passengers	Top Carriers
1	Düsseldorf, Germany	362.636	Air Berlin, Condor, Eurowings, TUIfly
2	Amsterdam, Netherlands	355.973	Corendon Airlines, Transavia, Vueling, TUI Airlines Netherlands
3	London Gatwick, United Kingdom	325.645	easyJet, Monarch Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways
4	Stockholm Arlanda, Sweden	317.331	Norwegian Air Shuttle, SAS, Thomas Cook Scandinavia, TUIfly Nordic
5	Oslo Gardermoen, Norway	309.832	Norwegian Air Shuttle, SAS, Thomas Cook Scandinavia, TUIfly Nordic
6	Manchester,United Kingdom	298.980	easyjet, Jet2.com, Monarch Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Ryanair, Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways
7	Frankfurt, Germany	244.001	Air Berlin, Condor, TUIfly
8	Munich, Germany	223.972	Air Berlin, Condor, Norwegian Air Shuttle, TUIfly
9	Copenhagen, Denmark	213.633	Norwegian Air Shuttle, SAS, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, TUIfly Nordic
10	Helsinki, Finland	189.369	Finnair, Jettime, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Primera, Thomas Cook Scandinavia, TUIfly Nordic

Busiest Domestic Routes from Gran Canaria (2016)

Rank	City	Passengers	Top Carriers
1	Madrid–Barajas, Community of Madrid	1.509.311	Air Europa, Iberia, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Ryanair
2	Tenerife, Canary Islands	658.350	Binter Canarias, CanaryFly
3	Lanzarote, Canary Islands	558.345	Binter Canarias, CanaryFly
4	Fuerteventura, Canary Islands	454.312	Binter Canarias, CanaryFly
5	Barcelona, Catalonia	409.078	Norwegian Air Shuttle, Ryanair, Vueling Airlines
6	Sevilla, Andalusia	172.473	Air Europa, Ryanair, Vueling Airlines
7	Málaga, Andalusia	153.304	Air Europa, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Vueling Airlines
8	La Palma, Canary Islands	102.272	Binter Canarias
9	Bilbao, Basque Country	100.773	Air Europa, Vueling Airlines
10	Santiago de Compostela, Galicia	91.421	Air Europa, Ryanair

Busiest African Routes from Gran Canaria (2016)

Rank	City	Passengers	Top Carriers
1	El Aaiun, Morocco	35.401	Binter Canarias, CanaryFly
2	Sal, Cape Verde	25.672	Binter Canarias
3	Nouakchott, Mauritania	24.641	Binter Canarias
4	Casablanca, Morocco	16.349	Binter Canarias, Royal Air Maroc
5	Boa Vista, Cape Verde	12.818	TACV
6	Marrakech, Morocco	10.752	Binter Canarias, Royal Air Maroc
7	Dakar, Senegal	9.854	Iberia, Binter Canarias
8	Agadir, Morocco	9.708	Binter Canarias
9	Nouadhibou, Mauritania	7.748	Mauritania Internacional Airways
10	Banjul, Gambia	5.361	Binter Canarias

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, CASA 212 and the Eurocopter AS 532 of SAR . 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. 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, 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.

External links

Media related to Gran Canaria Airport at Wikimedia Commons