El Hierro Airport
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El Hierro Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto de El Hierro, also known as ) is an airport located northeast of Valverde. It is the only existing airport on the Island of
El Hierro El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...
, Canary Islands,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. It was inaugurated in December 1972. However, in spite of its size and its limited timetable, it was the airport which had the greatest increase in number of passengers and merchandise in the Canary Islands in 2007. The air traffic is national, and the flights are normally from/to Tenerife North and Gran Canaria. In 2011, the airport carried 170,225 passengers, with 4,674 operations and 135 tons of cargo.


History

The first aeronautical event in the island was on December 12, 1955, and it was the first rescue operation by the SAR in the Canary Islands too. It consisted of the evacuation of an ill person who had to be transported to Tenerife in a helicopter. There was a real need for an airport on the island, so in 1962, some studies to locate the best place for the future airport were started, but the orography of the island is very complex, and there were not too many suitable places available. Finally, the engineers decided to place the airport in a place called "Llano de los Cangrejos" located in the northeast of the Island, near its capital, Valverde. Works to build the new installations began in 1967, building a runway (16-34), a small passenger terminal, and an
apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...
. Once the works were finished, on November 11, 1972, the airport was inaugurated and dedicated to national air traffic of passengers and cargo. It was classified as a 2-C category ( ICAO) or airport of third category. The first airplane to land was a Do-27 of the Spanish Air Force, but the official inauguration was made by a
DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...
which carried the minister Julio Salvador y Días-Benjumena. The first regular connection was inaugurated by
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
, starting operations on December 19, 1972, with a
Fokker F-27 The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...
commanded by Vicente Ramos Hernández, which made the route from Tenerife North - El Hierro - Tenerife North. During 1989 and 1990, a new control tower was built on the west side of the runway, the old one was demolished, and at the same time a new passenger terminal was built. In July, 1992, instead of Iberia, BinterCanarias started to operate the route from Tenerife North to El Hierro with an
ATR-72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, Flight length, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by Aerospace manufacturer, aircraft manufacturer ATR (aircraft manufacturer), ATR (french: Avions de transport région ...
. For that reason, the runway had to be extended to 1205 metres (3953 ft) length. This extension allowed an increase in the number of passengers and operations. It has a short 1250 m (4100 ft) runway, which limits the airport to handling regional turboprop aircraft, however if required it can handle a 737 or A320-family jet.


Infrastructure

The control tower is located in the western part of the island, opposite to the terminal - where an air traffic controller and the maintenance technicians work. In 2008, works to renovate the control tower began, with the aim of modernizing the installations. At present, it has the
SACTA ENAIRE is the air navigation manager in Spain, certified for the provision of en route, approach and aerodrome control services. As a public corporate entity attached to the Spanish Ministry of Public Works, it is responsible for air traffic co ...
3.5 system, which allows radar visualization of the radar data.


Airlines and destinations


Statistics


References


External links


El Hierro Airport Official Website
- {{authority control Airports in the Canary Islands El Hierro Airports established in 1972