Girona–Costa Brava Airport

Girona–Costa Brava Airport (IATA: GRO, ICAO: LEGE) (Catalan: Aeroport de Girona-Costa Brava, Spanish: Aeropuerto de Gerona-Costa Brava) is an airport located 12.5 km (7.8 mi) southwest[2] of the city of Girona, next to the small village of Vilobí d'Onyar, in the north-east of Catalonia, Spain. The airport is well connected to the Costa Brava and the Pyrenees. Girona Airport is used as an alternative airport for Barcelona as well, even though the airport is 74 km (46 mi)[3] north of the center of Barcelona.

Girona–Costa Brava Airport
Aeroport de Girona-Costa Brava
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorAena
ServesGirona, the Costa Brava
and Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Elevation AMSL143 m / 469 ft
Coordinates41°54′03″N 002°45′38″E
Websiteaena-aeropuertos.es
Map
GRO is located in Catalonia
GRO
GRO
Location within Catalonia
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
01/19 2,400 7,874 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Passengers2.019.876
Passenger change 17-18Increase 3,8%
Aircraft movements17.870
Aircraft movements change 17-18Decrease 7,2%
Cargo (t)133
Source: AENA[1]

History

The airport was built in 1965,[4] but passenger traffic was modest.

The early 2000s saw passenger numbers grow spectacularly after Ryanair chose Girona as one of its European hubs, marketing it as 'Barcelona-Girona'. In 1993, Girona Airport dealt with only 275,000 passengers; 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, but after Ryanair began to move their Barcelona operations from Girona to the larger El Prat International Airport, half of these were lost again in the next 4 years until 2012 with only 2.8 million passengers.[5] 2014 saw less than 2.2 million passengers pass through the airport. In 2016 it carried just 1.6 million passengers.

Facilities

The airport consists of one two-storey passenger terminal building. On the ground floor there are 33 check-in desks, with 11 boarding gates on the first floor for both domestic and international flights.[6] Food is available in the departures area of the airport, as well as a few shops.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Girona:[7]

AirlinesDestinations
Enter Air Seasonal charter: Gdańsk,[8] Katowice,[8] Poznań[8]
Jet2.com Seasonal: Birmingham, Bristol,[9] East Midlands, Glasgow,[10] Leeds/Bradford, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
LOT Polish Airlines Seasonal charter: Katowice,[11] Warsaw–Chopin[8]
Ryanair Belfast–International, Birmingham, Charleroi, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Kraków, London–Stansted, Marrakesh (begins 30 October 2023),[12] Nuremberg, Pisa, Weeze
Seasonal: Beauvais, Bournemouth, Bristol, Brussels, Cork, Dublin, East Midlands, Eindhoven, Hahn, Helsinki, Knock, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Memmingen, Pescara, Poznań, Riga, Santiago de Compostela, Shannon, Wrocław
Smartwings Seasonal: Warsaw–Chopin
Seasonal charter: Katowice,[8] Prague
Transavia Seasonal: Amsterdam, Rotterdam/The Hague
TUI Airways[13] Seasonal: Birmingham, London–Gatwick, Manchester
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels

Statistics
Check-in area
Apron view
Control tower
Annual passenger traffic at GRO airport. See Wikidata query.
YearPassengers
1997533,445
1998610,607
1999631,235
2000651,402
2001622,410
2002557,187
20031,448,796
20042,962,988
20053,533,567
20063,614,223
20074,848,604
20085,507,294
20095,286,970
20104,863,785
20113,007,649
20122,844,571
20132,736,867
20142,160,646
20151,775,318
20161,664,763
20171,946,816
20182,019,876
20191,932,255
Source: Aena Statistics[5]

Ground transportation

Along with 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:

By bus

There are six bus lines operating in the airport to:

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 (2.5 mi) away from the airport.[14] There is a project to build a station for the AVE line LGV Perpignan–Figueres, which passes within a few hundred meters of the terminal.

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 overshot the runway when landing in a storm and broke apart. After leaving the runway, it ran 343 metres (1,125 ft) 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 main landing gears collapsed. It finally stopped after a 244-metre (800 ft) 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. One elderly passenger died a week later.[15][16]

References
  1. Informes Anuales – 2012 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) – AENA
  2. "Spanish AIP (AENA)". Archived from the original on 7 March 2012.
  3. Distanse from Girona–Costa Brava Airport to Sagrada Família in center of Barcelona - Google Maps
  4. "AENA Girona-Costa Brava Historia". Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  5. "AENA passenger statistics and aircraft movements".
  6. "Girona-Costa Brava Airport Guide (GRO)". www.gironaairport.net.
  7. aena.es - Destinos retrieved 21 May 2017
  8. "Coral Travel". coraltravel.pl.
  9. "Jet2's Bristol Airport base will bring 450,000-holiday seats". ukaviation.news. 11 November 2020.
  10. "Jet2.com and Jet2holidays expand 'significantly' at three airports for 2023". Travel Weekly.
  11. "LOT wykona z Katowic rejsy czarterowe dla Rainbow Tours". Pasazer.com.
  12. "Ryanair".
  13. "Flight Timetable". tui.co.uk.
  14. "Recorrido". horarios.renfe.com.
  15. "Special Bulletin S1/2000 – Boeing 757-204, G-BYAG" (PDF). Air Accidents Investigation Branch. 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2006.
  16. "BBC report of air crash". BBC. 16 September 1999.

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