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Girona–Costa Brava Airport

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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 / 41.90083°N 2.76056°E / 41.90083; 2.76056
Websiteaena.es
Map
GRO is located in Catalonia
GRO
GRO
Location within Catalonia
GRO is located in Spain
GRO
GRO
GRO (Spain)
Map
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

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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

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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

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

AirlinesDestinations
Air Arabia Tangier[8]
Enter Air Seasonal charter: Gdańsk,[9] Katowice,[9] Poznań[9]
Jet2.com Seasonal: Birmingham, Bristol,[10] East Midlands, Edinburgh (begins 3 May 2026),[11] Glasgow,[12] Leeds/Bradford, London–Luton (begins 6 July 2025),[13] London–Stansted, Manchester,[14] Newcastle upon Tyne
Ryanair[15] Beni Mellal,[16] Birmingham, Charleroi, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Kraków, London–Stansted,[17] Marrakesh,[18] Nuremberg, Pisa,[19] Weeze, Wrocław
Seasonal: Aalborg,[20] Bari,[21][22] Beauvais, Belfast-International, Bournemouth, Bristol, Brussels, Cork, Dublin, East Midlands, Belfast–International, Eindhoven, Hahn, Helsinki, Knock, Leeds/Bradford, Lublin (begins 31 March 2025),[23] Maastricht,[24] Manchester, Memmingen, Paderborn/Lippstadt,[25] Pardubice,[26] Pescara, Poznań, Riga, Shannon, Zagreb[27]
Smartwings Seasonal: Warsaw–Chopin
Seasonal charter: Katowice,[9] Prague
Transavia Seasonal: Amsterdam, Rotterdam/The Hague
TUI Airways[28] Seasonal: Birmingham, London–Gatwick, Manchester
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels
Wizz Air Budapest (begins 1 April 2025)[29]

Statistics

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Check-in area
 
Apron view
 
Control tower
Year Passengers
1997 533,445
1998 610,607
1999 631,235
2000 651,402
2001 622,410
2002 557,187
2003 1,448,796
2004 2,962,988
2005 3,533,567
2006 3,614,223
2007 4,848,604
2008 5,507,294
2009 5,286,970
2010 4,863,785
2011 3,007,649
2012 2,844,571
2013 2,736,867
2014 2,160,646
2015 1,775,318
2016 1,664,763
2017 1,946,816
2018 2,019,876
2019 1,932,255
Source: Aena Statistics[5]

Busiest routes

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Busiest international routes from GRO (2023)
Rank Destination Passengers Change 2022 / 23
1   London-Stansted 152,112   50%
2   Charleroi 123,701   19%
3   Pisa 100,316   21%
4   Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden 89,984   17%
5   Weeze 78,488   50%
6   Bristol 66,563   15%
7   Manchester 63,735   26%
8   Rotterdam/The Hague 62,086   16%
9   Birmingham 61,552   121%
10   Amsterdam 59,163   17%
11   Dublin 52,265   9%
12   Leeds/Bradford 47,829   3%
13   Memmingen 47,561   33%
14   Kraków 46,082   26%
15   Bournemouth 44,409   24%
16   Nuremberg 40,973   12%
17   Wrocław 40,132   36%
18   Belfast-International 39,313   New Route
19   Beauvais 33,702   22%
20   Cork 30,180   15%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo[30]

Ground transportation

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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

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The airport is served by three main roads:

By bus

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There are six bus lines operating in the airport to:

By train

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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.[32] 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

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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.[33][34][35]

References

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  1. ^ Informes Anuales – 2012 [permanent dead link‍] [1] "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". Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  5. ^ a b "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. ^ https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/voyage/actualite/air-arabia-trois-nouvelles-liaisons-directes-entre-le-maroc-et-l-europe-d%C3%A8s-octobre-2024/ar-BB1qsTRW?ocid=BingNewsSerp [bare URL]
  9. ^ a b c d "Coral Travel". coraltravel.pl.
  10. ^ "Jet2's Bristol Airport base will bring 450,000-holiday seats". ukaviation.news. 11 November 2020.
  11. ^ https://www.travelgossip.co.uk/latestnews/jet2-to-launch-raft-of-new-routes-for-summer-26/
  12. ^ "Jet2.com and Jet2holidays expand 'significantly' at three airports for 2023". Travel Weekly.
  13. ^ "Jet2 Expands Luton Airport Routes with Direct Flights to Girona, Verona, and Madeira, Enhancing European Travel Access".
  14. ^ "Jet2 NS25 A321neo Network Expansion – 14JUL24".
  15. ^ "Ryanair NS23 Network Additions Summary – 26MAR23". Aeroroutes.
  16. ^ "Ryanair Morocco NS24 Network Expansion". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  17. ^ "Ryanair UK NS24 Boeing 737 MAX Preliminary Network – 17DEC23".
  18. ^ "Ryanair NW23 Network Changes – 17SEP23".
  19. ^ "Ryanair May – Oct 2023 Italy Frequency Variations – 14MAY23". Aeroroutes.
  20. ^ "NY rute fra Aalborg og til Girona og Costa Brava-kysten". 29 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Ryanair".
  22. ^ "Ryanair NS24 Network Additions Summary – 14JUL24".
  23. ^ https://www.fly4free.pl/ryanair-nie-zwalnia-tempa-4-kolejne-nowe-trasy-z-polski/
  24. ^ https://www.goedkoopvliegenclub.nl/ [bare URL]
  25. ^ "Ryanair verbindet neu Paderborn/Lippstadt und Girona". 6 December 2023.
  26. ^ "Ryanair posílí i v Pardubicích, přidá linku na letiště Girona–Costa Brava". 5 December 2023.
  27. ^ "RYANAIR NS24 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 10DEC23". Aeroroutes. 12 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  28. ^ "Flight Timetable". tui.co.uk.
  29. ^ "Wizz Air NW24 Network Additions – 14SEP24". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  30. ^ "Inicio". aena.es. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  31. ^ "Girona airport guide". www.travelguide.barcelona. 17 July 2024.
  32. ^ "Recorrido". horarios.renfe.com.
  33. ^ "Special Bulletin S1/2000 – Boeing 757-204, G-BYAG" (PDF). Air Accidents Investigation Branch. 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2006.
  34. ^ "BBC report of air crash". BBC. 16 September 1999.
  35. ^ https://www.msn.com/fr-fr/voyage/actualite/air-arabia-trois-nouvelles-liaisons-directes-entre-le-maroc-et-l-europe-d%C3%A8s-octobre-2024/ar-BB1qsTRW?ocid=BingNewsSerp [bare URL]
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