Santiago de Compostela Airport

Santiago de Compostela Airport
Aeroporto de Santiago de Compostela
Aeropuerto de Santiago de Compostela
IATA: SCQICAO: LEST
WMO: 8041
Summary
Airport type Public/Military
Operator Aena
Serves Galicia, Spain
Location Santiago de Compostela
Focus city for
Built 1932
Elevation AMSL 1,213 ft / 370 m
Coordinates 42°53′47″N 08°24′55″W / 42.89639°N 8.41528°W / 42.89639; -8.41528
Website aena-aeropuertos.es
Map
SCQ
SCQ
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 10,499 3,200 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 2,296,248
Passenger change 14-15 Increase10.2%
Aircraft Movements 20,540
Movements change 14-15 Increase5.7%
Control tower
747 Japanese Air Force One landing at the airport

Santiago de Compostela Airport (Galician: Aeroporto de Santiago de Compostela, Spanish: Aeropuerto de Santiago de Compostela) (IATA: SCQ, ICAO: LEST) 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.

The airport is located in the parish of Lavacolla, 13 km from Santiago de Compostela and handled 2,296,248 passengers in 2015. 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.[1]

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.[2] During the 1990s, the airport had non-stop service to South America operated by Viasa.[3]

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 had lots of expansions during its lifetime. The terminal closed on the night of 13 October 2011 where 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, 13 gates of which 5 have airbridges and 4 baggage carousels. The baggage hall is split into two zones, one for Schengen flights and one for Non-Schengen. It can handle as much as 4 million passengers per year.[4] The terminal is due to be expanded in the future. This includes adding another 5 airbridges to 5 of the current gates as well as 3 more baggage carousels and an expanded shopping area.[5]

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Aer Lingus Seasonal: Dublin
Air Europa Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Tenerife–North, Tenerife–South
Seasonal: Fuerteventura, Ibiza, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca
easyJet Seasonal: London–Gatwick
easyJet Switzerland Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva
Iberia
operated by Air Nostrum
Bilbao, Tenerife–North
Seasonal: Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Madeira (resumes July 27, 2017),[6] Palma de Mallorca
Iberia Express Madrid
Lufthansa Seasonal: Frankfurt (begins March 27, 2017), Munich (begins April 1, 2017)[7]
Ryanair Alicante, Barcelona, Bergamo, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, London–Stansted, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Tenerife–South, Valencia
Seasonal: Hahn
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: Zürich
Vueling Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, London–Gatwick, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Rome–Fiumicino, Tenerife–North
Seasonal: Alicante, Amsterdam, Berlin–Tegel, Brussels, Ibiza, Menorca, Valencia, Zürich

Statistics

During the early 2000s, numbers increased significantly at the airport, from 1.2 million in 2002 to peak at 2.5 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 raise of Santiago de Compostela as an international destination is increasing again the passenger numbers, growing to 2.3 million in 2015.[8]

Traffic figures

Santiago de Compostela Airport Passenger Totals 2000-2015 (millions)
Updated: 14 January 2016.[8]
Passengers handled Passengers % Change Aircraft movements Aircraft % Change Freight (tonnes) Freight % Change
2000 1,332,893 Steady 19,660 Steady 6,773 Steady
2001 1,281,334 Decrease 3.86% 19,084 Decrease 2.92% 6,228 Decrease 8.04%
2002 1,240,730 Decrease 3.16% 17.362 Decrease 9.02% 5,716 Decrease 8.22%
2003 1,381,826 Increase 11.37% 18,454 Increase 6.28% 5,318 Decrease 6.96%
2004 1,580,675 Increase 14.39% 21,593 Increase 17.00% 4,938 Decrease 7.14%
2005 1,843,118 Increase 16.60% 25,693 Increase 18.98% 3,805 Decrease 22.94%
2006 1,994,519 Increase 8.21% 24,719 Decrease 3.79% 2,587 Decrease 32.01%
2007 2,050,172 Increase 2.79% 24,643 Decrease 0.30% 2,749 Increase 6.26%
2008 1,917,466 Decrease 6.47% 21,945 Decrease 10.94% 2,418 Decrease 12.04%
2009 1,944,068 Increase 1.38% 20,166 Decrease 8.10% 1,988 Decrease 17.78%
2010 2,172,869 Increase 11.76% 21,252 Increase 5.38% 1,964 Decrease 1.20%
2011 2,464,330 Increase 13.41% 22,322 Increase 5.03% 1,787 Decrease 9.01%
2012 2,194,611 Decrease 10.94% 19,511 Decrease 12.59% 1,815 Increase 1.56%
2013 2,073,055 Decrease 5.53% 18,688 Decrease 4.21% 1,929 Increase 6.28%
2014 2,083,873 Increase 0.52% 19,431 Increase 3.97% 2,095 Increase 8.60%
2015 2,296,248 Increase 10.20% 20,540 Increase 5.70% 2,311 Increase 10.10%

Route statistics

Busiest domestic routes at Santiago de Compostela Airport (2015)[9]
Rank City Passengers % Change
2014 / 15
Carriers
1 Community of Madrid Madrid 526.232 Increase 6.45% Iberia Express, Ryanair
2 Catalonia Barcelona 403.552 Increase 3.67% Ryanair, Vueling
3 Balearic Islands Palma de Mallorca 120.893 Increase 15.80% Air Europa, Air Nostrum, Ryanair, Vueling
4 Valencian Community Valencia 100.158 Increase 16.69% Ryanair, Vueling
5 Andalusia Málaga 96.528 Increase 0.03% Ryanair, Vueling
6 Canary Islands Tenerife (South) 88.621 Increase 0.61% Air Europa, Ryanair
7 Canary Islands Gran Canaria 85.784 Decrease 3.97% Air Europa, Air Nostrum, Ryanair
8 Valencian Community Alicante 81.804 Decrease 0.64% Ryanair, Vueling
9 Andalusia Sevilla 69.724 Increase 53.18% Ryanair
10 Canary Islands Lanzarote 59.790 Decrease 12.75% Air Europa, Air Nostrum, Ryanair


Busiest International routes at Santiago de Compostela Airport (2015)[9]
Rank City Passengers % Change
2014 / 15
Carriers
1 Switzerland Geneva 85.938 Increase 18.15% easyJet Switzerland
2 United Kingdom London (Stansted) 74.981 Increase 9.23% Ryanair
3 Germany Frankfurt (Hahn) 42.358 Increase 9.40% Ryanair
4 Switzerland Basel 41.641 Decrease 0.11% easyJet Switzerland
5 France Paris (Charles de Gaulle) 37.845 Increase 20.98% Vueling
6 United Kingdom London (Gatwick) 37.220 Decrease 10.36% easyJet
7 Italy Rome (Fiumicino) 32.396 Increase 321.32% easyJet, Vueling
8 Italy Milan (Bergamo) 32.173 Increase 10.72% Ryanair
9 Switzerland Zürich 30.953 Increase 62.10% Swiss, Vueling
10 Republic of Ireland Dublin 29.228 Increase 1.39% Aer Lingus


Busiest countries of destination at Santiago de Compostela Airport (2015)[9]
Rank Country Passengers % Change
2014 / 15
Scheduled Carriers
1 Spain Spain 1.706.099 Increase 5.22% Air Europa, Air Nostrum, Iberia Express, Ryanair, Vueling
2 Switzerland Switzerland 158.498 Increase 18.75% easyJet Switzerland, Swiss, Vueling
3 United Kingdom United Kingdom 114.719 Increase 3.20% easyJet, Ryanair
4 Italy Italy 65.001 Increase 63.65% easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling
5 Germany Germany 62.751 Increase 60.61% Ryanair, Vueling
6 France France 38.199 Increase 19.27% Vueling
7 Republic of Ireland Ireland 29.228 Increase 4.28% Aer Lingus
8 Belgium Belgium 18.672 Decrease 1.85% Vueling
9 Turkey Turkey 17.769 Decrease 46.97% Turkish Airlines
10 Netherlands Netherlands 16.142 Increase 6.93% Vueling


Busiest Carriers at Santiago de Compostela Airport (2015)[9]
Rank Carriers Passengers % Change
2014 / 15
1 Republic of Ireland Ryanair 1.020.966 Increase 8.77%
2 Spain Vueling 481.526 Increase 38.29%
3 Spain Iberia Express 297.582 Increase 5.67%
4 Spain Air Europa 146.191 Decrease 1.09%
5 Switzerland easyJet Switzerland 127.480 Increase 11.88%
6 Spain Air Nostrum 80.377 Decrease 22.21%
7 United Kingdom easyJet 52.434 Increase 24.86%
8 Republic of Ireland Aer Lingus 29.367 Increase 1,87%
9 Turkey Turkish Airlines 17.769 Decrease 46.98%
10 Switzerland Swiss International Air Lines 13.662 Steady

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

References

Media related to Santiago de Compostela Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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