Corvo Airport ( pt, Aeródromo do Corvo, ) is an airport in the village of

Vila do Corvo Vila do Corvo () is the smallest municipality in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, constituting the island of Corvo in its entirety. With a population of 430 in 2011, it is the least populated of the Portuguese municipalities, and the onl ...

on the island of Corvo, in the Portuguese archipelago of the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

. It is owned by the Regional Government of the Azores, but managed by

SATA Air Açores SATA Air Açores is a Portuguese airline based in São Sebastião, Ponta Delgada in the Azores, Portugal. It operates scheduled passenger, cargo and mail services around the Azores. It provides its own maintenance and handling services and manag ...

History

Opened on 12 January 2005, ''SATA Gestão de Aeródromos'' (''SATA Aerodrome Management'') was established to operate the smaller airports on the islands of Pico, Graciosa, Corvo and São Jorge. The Regional Government of the Azores, after a public tender, provided SATA Aeródromos with the concession of public services for Corvo for a period of 10 years, in a contract signed on 1 July 2005. In 2009, with the addition of new

De Havilland Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

-Q200 to the SATA Air Açores fleet, to replace the existing

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

, there was a comparable increase in passenger traffic to the island (primarily from the move to 37-seat from 18-seat capacity aircraft).SATA Aeródrome (2009), p.25 Regardless, the airport accounted for a 1.3% increase in traffic in that year, on an island that only accounts for 3% of the passenger traffic handled by SATA Aeródrome. While there were decreases in the amount of cargo transported at other airports, the addition of new aircraft caused a 45% increase in cargo traffic from Corvo. This was also the year that the runway was repaved to accommodate the new aircraft at a cost of 190,000 euros.SATA Aeródrome (2009), p. 30 On 3 August 2012, CDS-PP deputy Paulo Rosa denounced the lack of security in the Azores' smallest aerodrome, citing the recommended measures stipulated by the IATA after 11 September 2001. Rosa noted that, eleven years on, those rules had not been applied in many of the aerodromes of the Azores. SATA, the airport's manager, launched a competition to remodel and expand the aerodrome on 13 August 2013, that includes improvements to security, passenger comfort and inter-island travel. Part of the regional Public Works Plans, the project finally divides the arrivals and departures area into two individual sections, establishes restricted zones and control accesses, and installs a metal detector and baggage inspection station.

Geography

The Corvo aerodrome is located on the island of Corvo, one of the two volcanically stable islands that lie west of the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North Ame ...

, in the archipelago of the Azores.Norman Herz (2004), p. 12 But, located in the extreme north-western end of the group, it is exposed to the elements and susceptible to terrible weather throughout the year. Corvo is the last to be assisted by the

Azores High The Azores High also known as North Atlantic (Subtropical) High/Anticyclone or the Bermuda-Azores High, is a large subtropical semi-permanent centre of high atmospheric pressure typically found south of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, at the Hor ...

, and first to lose this protection at the end of the season: it is plagued by storms and

anticyclone An anticyclone is a weather phenomenon defined as a large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from abov ...

s throughout the year, making flying conditions difficult. The airport is situated on the southern coast of the island, at least from the water's edge, flanking the southern limit of

. The runway extends along the isthmus, from the western beach of Praia da Areia to the rocky outcroppings of Ponta Negra on the eastern shore. The airport is surrounded both by hedged fields and buildings, including the Porto da Casa (main port).

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Corvo Airport:

Statistics

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * {{authority control Airports in the Azores Corvo Island Buildings and structures in Vila do Corvo