Santiago–Rosalía de Castro Airport

Santiago - Rosalía de Castro Airport Aeroporto de Santiago - Rosalía de Castro Aeropuerto de Santiago - Rosalía de Castro
IATA: SCQ ICAO: LEST WMO: 8041
Summary
Airport type	Public/Military
Owner	ENAIRE
Operator	Aena
Serves	Santiago, Galicia, Spain
Location	Santiago de Compostela
Focus city for	Ryanair Vueling
Built	1932
Elevation AMSL	1,213 ft / 370 m
Coordinates	42°53′47″N 08°24′55″W
Website	aena-aeropuertos.es/santiago
Map
SCQ Location in Galicia SCQ SCQ (Spain)
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 17/35 10,499 3,200 Asphalt
Statistics (2020)
Passengers 935,394 Passengers change 19-20 67.8% Aircraft movements 10,949 Movements change 19-20 51.1%

Control tower

Santiago–Rosalía de Castro Airport (Galician: Aeroporto de Santiago-Rosalía de Castro, Spanish: Aeropuerto de Santiago-Rosalía de Castro) (IATA: SCQ, ICAO: LEST), previously named Lavacolla Airport and also known as Santiago de Compostela Airport, is an international airport serving the autonomous community and historical region of Galicia in Spain. It is the 2nd busiest airport in northern Spain after Bilbao Airport. It has been named after the Galician romanticist writer and poetess, Rosalía de Castro, since 12 March 2020.

The airport is located in the parish of Lavacolla, 12 km from Santiago de Compostela and handled 2,903,427 passengers in 2019. It is the main focus city of Vueling in the northwest Iberian Peninsula, and Ryanair's only focus city in Northern Spain. The Christian pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago runs near the airport.

History

The airport was set up by a group of aviation enthusiasts in October 1932 and two months directors were chosen to select where the airport was going to be built. In 1935 construction work started at the airport where two years later on 27 September 1937 the first scheduled flight from Santiago de Compostela took place. After the Spanish Civil war, political prisoners (who were held in the concentration camp of Lavacolla) were forced to work in the construction of the airport.

In 1969 a new terminal was built at the airport. It has had several expansions taking place since it opened. It closed in 2011 following a brand new terminal being built at the airport. In 1981, a cargo terminal was built, giving the airport capacity to handle cargo flights. During the 1990s, the airport had non-stop service to South America operated by Viasa.

On 13 October 2011 a new passenger terminal opened at the airport, replacing the old terminal, opened in 1969 and remodeled in 1993.

Terminal

The airport currently has one operating terminal. The old terminal at Santiago de Compostela airport opened in 1969 and was often expanded. The old terminal closed on the night of 13 October 2011 when operations transferred to the new terminal.

The new terminal at Santiago de Compostela Airport officially opened on 13 October 2011 and passenger operations transferred there the following day. It is adjacent to the old terminal and has a size of 74,000 sq m. It has 22 check-in desks, 3 security checkpoints, 4 baggage carousels, and 13 gates of which 5 have airbridges. The baggage hall is split into two zones, one for Schengen flights and one for Non-Schengen. It can handle as many as 4 million passengers per year. The terminal is due to be expanded in the future. This includes adding another five airbridges to five of the current gates as well as three more baggage carousels and an expanded shopping area.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Aer Lingus	Dublin (resumes 3 April 2021)
Air Europa	Gran Canaria, Tenerife–North Seasonal: Fuerteventura
easyJet	Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva Seasonal: London–Gatwick (resumes 2 July 2021)
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zurich
Iberia Express	Madrid
Iberia Regional	Bilbao
Lufthansa	Frankfurt (resumes 28 March 2021)
Ryanair	Alicante, Barcelona, Bergamo, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, London–Stansted, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Tenerife–South, Valencia
TAP Air Portugal	Lisbon (resumes 25 March 2021)
Transavia	Seasonal: Paris–Orly
Volotea	Seasonal: Menorca
Vueling	Amsterdam (resumes 1 April 2021), Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle (resumes 2 April 2021), Tenerife–North Seasonal: Brussels (resumes 29 March 2021), Gran Canaria, Zurich

Statistics

During the early 2000s, numbers increased significantly at the airport, from 1.24 million in 2002 to peak at 2.46 million in 2011. Because of the financial crisis in Spain, those numbers decreased to 2.1 million in 2014. Cargo has decreased significantly over the last ten years. The Spanish economic recovery in the mid-2010s and the rise of Santiago de Compostela as an international destination are again increasing passenger numbers, breaking the 2.50 million mark for the first time in 2016.

Traffic figures by year

Santiago de Compostela Airport Passenger Totals 2000-2019 (millions)

Updated: 14 January 2021.

	Passengers handled	Passengers % Change	Aircraft movements	Aircraft % Change	Freight (tonnes)	Freight % Change
2000	1,332,893	-	19,660	-	6,773	-
2001	1,281,334	3.86%	19,084	2.92%	6,228	8.04%
2002	1,240,730	3.16%	17.362	9.02%	5,716	8.22%
2003	1,381,826	11.37%	18,454	6.28%	5,318	6.96%
2004	1,580,675	14.39%	21,593	17.00%	4,938	7.14%
2005	1,843,118	16.60%	25,693	18.98%	3,805	22.94%
2006	1,994,519	8.21%	24,719	3.79%	2,587	32.01%
2007	2,050,172	2.79%	24,643	0.30%	2,749	6.26%
2008	1,917,466	6.47%	21,945	10.94%	2,418	12.04%
2009	1,944,068	1.38%	20,166	8.10%	1,988	17.78%
2010	2,172,869	11.76%	21,252	5.38%	1,964	1.20%
2011	2,464,330	13.41%	22,322	5.03%	1,787	9.01%
2012	2,194,611	10.94%	19,511	12.59%	1,815	1.56%
2013	2,073,055	5.53%	18,688	4.21%	1,929	6.28%
2014	2,083,873	0.52%	19,431	3.97%	2,095	8.60%
2015	2,296,248	10.20%	20,540	5.70%	2,311	10.10%
2016	2,510,740	9.30%	21,227	3.60%	2,936	27.04%
2017	2,644,925	5.34%	21,520	1.38%	2,693	8.28%
2018	2,724,750	3.01%	21,839	1.50%	3,019	12.10%
2019	2,903,427	6.56%	22,396	2.55%	3,201	6.02%
2020	935,394	67.8%	10,949	51.1%	2,981	6.9%

Traffic figures by month

	2020 Passengers	2021 Passengers	Passengers % Change
January	179,454	-	-
February	175,669	-	-
March	77,934	-	-
April	829	-	-
May	139	-	-
June	10,750	-	-
July	86,177	-	-
August	147,639	-	-
September	94,965	-	-
October	73,503	-	-
November	34,707	-	-
December	53,628	-	-

Route statistics

Diagram of the airport

Busiest domestic routes at Santiago de Compostela Airport (2020)

Rank	City	Passengers	% Change 2019 / 20	Carriers
1	Madrid	235.760	67.4%	Iberia, Iberia Express, Ryanair
2	Barcelona	153.033	64.2%	Ryanair, Vueling
3	Palma de Mallorca	67.343	55.9%	Air Europa, Iberia Regional, Ryanair, Vueling
4	Málaga	47.940	64.9%	Ryanair, Vueling
5	Alicante	43.391	70.6%	Ryanair, Vueling
6	Gran Canaria	41.376	62.9%	Air Europa, Iberia Express, Iberia Regional, Ryanair, Vueling
7	Valencia	39.340	58.9%	Ryanair
8	Lanzarote	36.281	59.0%	Air Europa, Ryanair, Vueling
9	Sevilla	35.425	59.0%	Ryanair
10	Tenerife (South)	23.415	80.8%	Air Europa, Ryanair

Busiest International routes at Santiago de Compostela Airport (2020)

Rank	City	Passengers	% Change 2019 / 20	Carriers
2	Geneva	27.583	69.9%	easyJet Switzerland
2	London Stansted	24.998	78.3%	Ryanair
3	Basel	14.410	66.8%	easyJet Switzerland
3	Malta	8.461	41.3%	Ryanair
4	Paris (Charles de Gaulle)	7.794	85.6%	Vueling
6	Milan (Bergamo)	6.628	85.9%	Ryanair
7	Amsterdam	5.259	81.8%	Vueling
8	Rome (Ciampino)	5.165	-	Ryanair
9	Paris (Orly)	4.444	-	Transavia, Vueling
10	Dublin	3.801	93.1%	Aer Lingus

Busiest countries of destination at Santiago de Compostela Airport (2020)

Rank	Country	Passengers	% Change 2019 / 20	Scheduled Carriers
1	Spain	816.295	63.5%	Air Europa, Iberia, Iberia Express, Iberia Regional, Ryanair, Vueling
2	Switzerland	45.081	73.5%	easyJet Switzerland, Edelweiss, Vueling
3	United Kingdom	25.560	81.6%	Ryanair
4	Italy	14.364	84.4%	Ryanair, Vueling
5	France	12.282	77.5%	Transavia, Vueling
6	Malta	8.461	41.3%	Ryanair
7	Netherlands	5.259	81.8%	Vueling
8	Ireland	3.809	93.1%	Aer Lingus
9	Germany	3.295	96.2%	Lufthansa
10	Cuba	548	79.1%	-

Busiest Carriers at Santiago de Compostela Airport (2020)

Rank	Carriers	Passengers	% Change 2019 / 20
1	Ryanair	408.596	67.0%
2	Vueling	240.682	64.8%
3	Iberia Express	136.847	71.6%
4	easyJet Switzerland	41.953	69.0%
5	Air Europa	24.217	76.0%
6	Iberia Regional	19.740	69.6%
7	Volotea	8.995	3727.7%
8	Evelop	4.407	90.8%
9	Aer Lingus	3.801	93.1%
10	Lufthansa	3.219	96.4%

Ground transportation

Road

The airport is linked with Santiago de Compostela (13 km) by the Autovía A-54. This motorway is currently being extended to Lugo (94.5 km) where it will connect with the Autovía A-6, providing toll-free motorway access to the rest of Spain; and to the French border through the Autovía A-8 that intersects with the Autovía A-6 near Lugo. Nearby Autopista AP-9 connects the airport directly to A Coruña (66 km), Ferrol (88 km), Pontevedra (75 km), Vigo (100 km) and the Portuguese border. Ourense (116 km) is reachable through the Autopista AP-53 that connects with the Autopista AP-9.

There are several major car rental companies at the airport. The airport has more than 5,000 short and long-term covered parking spaces in the new terminal building. In addition, there are several low-cost, long-term private parking facilities around the airport.

Bus services

A city bus service operated by Empresa Freire every 30 minutes connects the airport with the center of Santiago de Compostela, and the bus and train terminals in the city. From the station in Santiago de Compostela, private coach operators run direct services in a multiple daily basis to most cities and towns in Galicia, including A Coruña, Ferrol, Lugo, Ourense, Pontevedra and Vigo, as well as long-distance services to the rest of Spain, and international services. In addition, three regional services link the airport directly to A Coruña, to Lugo, including several stops in the French Way of the Camino de Santiago, and to the A Mariña coastal area (home to As Catedrais beach) in the province of Lugo.

Rail

There are no rail facilities at the airport. However the train station in Santiago de Compostela, located 12 km. away, is connected to the airport by the city bus service every 30 minutes. There are combined available train+bus tickets to and from the airport. The train station in Santiago de Compostela has medium and long-distance high-speed Alvia and AVE services to most cities in Galicia, including A Coruña, Ferrol, Ourense, Pontevedra, Vilagarcía and Vigo; and further to Madrid Chamartín and the rest of Spain.

Foot and bike

The Camino de Santiago runs next to the runway of the airport. This is the busiest and final journey in the Camino de Santiago that goes through the famous Monte do Gozo. There are dedicated pathways for both pedestrians and bikers towards the city. The walking distance from the runway to the Cathedral is estimated at 10.90 km.

Accidents and Incidents

• On 3 March 1978, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63 operated by Iberia from Madrid–Barajas Airport with 211 passengers and 11 crew members, registration EC-BMX. The aircraft touched down far down the runway after a high approach, aquaplaned off the runway, dropped into a hollow 20m deep and caught fire. The crash was settled with 70 injured people, 10 of them seriously injured, and no fatalities.
• On 7 June 2001, a Beechcraft B300C Super King Air 350, registration F-GOAE, departed from Le Mans-Arnage Airport (LME), France, to Santiago De Compostela Airport (SCQ), Spain, on a cargo flight according to instrument flight rules. Near the destination airport, the meteorological conditions were reported to be good, and the crew requested a visual approach to runway 17, even though the active runway was 35. Once cleared to land, the aircraft encountered a fog patch and from this moment it began a high ate descent (2000 to 3000 ft/min). A minute after entering an unexpected and unforeseen fog patch, the aircraft struck some trees in level flight and with an airspeed of 148 kt. The wings and engines detached from the fuselage, and they dragged along a scrubland area until they came to a stop. The crew suffered minor injuries and the aircraft was completely destroyed.
• On 2 August 2012, an Airnor Cessna 500 Citation I, registration EC-IBA, flying from Asturias crashed whilst on approach to the airport with the loss of both crew members.

External links

Media related to Santiago de Compostela Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website