Girona-Costa Brava Airport
| Girona-Costa Brava
Airport Aeroport de Girona |
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|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| IATA: GRO - ICAO: LEGE | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Aena | ||
| Serves | Girona | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 465.8 ft (142 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 02/20 | 7,874 | 2,400 | Asphalt |
Girona-Costa Brava Airport (IATA: GRO, ICAO: LEGE) is an airport located 12km south from 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, 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 only dealt with 275,000 passengers but by 2005 that number had escalated to more than 3.5 million passengers.
Many people use Girona Airport as an alternative airport for Barcelona, though being about 100km (62.5 miles) to the north of Barcelona the transfer times do put some people off. Passengers can transfer to Barcelona via a direct airport bus, taxi or by taking a train from Girona city.
Statistics
Passenger numbers 1997 to 2006:
| Year | Passengers | Year | Passengers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 533,445 | 2002 | 557,187 |
| 1998 | 610,607 | 2003 | 1,448,796 |
| 1999 | 631,235 | 2004 | 2,962,988 |
| 2000 | 651,402 | 2005 | 3,533,567 |
| 2001 | 622,410 | 2006 | 3,614,223 |
To and around the airport
From Girona Airport you can easily reach the resorts along the Costa Brava, places such as Lloret de Mar, l'Estartit, Blanes. You are also only 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 Resort 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 - Girona)
- N-II, no-toll road (Madrid - Barcelona - Perpignan, France)
By bus
There are 4 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 la Costa and Tossa de Mar)
- Airport-Girona (25 minutes, one every hour).
By train
There is no train station at the airport. The closest one is in Girona city. There is a project to build a station for the future AVE line Barcelona-France (Spanish TGV).
Facilities
There are several companies offering car hire. There are also shops and cafes serving sandwiches and drinks. In the departure lounge there are a restaurant, bar and shops.
There is a parking area (paying) in the airport for 1020 cars and 35 buses.
Airliner crash, 1999
-
- See main article Britannia Airways Flight BY226A
On 14 September 1999, at 21:47 UTC, a Boeing 757 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 a number of medium sized trees and the right engine struck the boundary fence. The aircraft then passed through the fence, re-landed in a field and 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. There were no fatalities and the injuries were few: 2 serious and 42 minor.[1] [2]
Airlines and destinations
- Centralwings (Krakow) [Starts October 30,2007]
- Ryanair: Aarhus, Alghero, Altenburg, Basel [starts october 2007], Billund, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Bratislava, Bremen, Brescia, Bristol, Brno [starts october 2007], Brussels-Charleroi, Cagliari, Doncaster Sheffield, Dublin, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Eindhoven, Faro, Fez, Forli, Fuerteventura, Glasgow-Prestwick, Gothenburg-City, Granada [starts november 2007], Graz, Hahn, Hamburg [starts november 2007], Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Linz [starts october 2007], Liverpool, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Lübeck, Maastricht, Madrid [starts october, 2007], Malmo [ceases november 2007], Malta, Marrakech, Milan-Bergamo, Newcastle, Oslo-Torp, Paris-Beauvais, Pescara, Pisa, Porto, Poznan [starts october 2007], Rome-Ciampino, Shannon, Stockholm-Skavsta, Tenerife-North, Trapani, Treviso (Venice Mestre), Weeze, Wroclaw.
- Smart Wings: Brno, Ostrava, Prague.
- Spanair: Madrid, Ibiza [seasonal], Menorca [seasonal], Palma de Mallorca [seasonal]
- transavia.com: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris-Orly.
- Wizz Air: Budapest, Katowice.
External links
- World Aero Data airport information for LEGE
- Girona Airport Website
- AENA Website about Spanish airports
- Girona Airport Transport
- Maps and transports Airport Costa Brava
Notes and references
- ^ "Special Bulletin S1/2000 - Boeing 757-204, G-BYAG", Air Accidents Investigation Branch, 2000.
- ^ "BBC report of air crash", BBC, 1999.
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