La Gomera Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto de La Gomera) is an
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
located near the town of Playa Santiago on the island of
La Gomera
La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...
in the Canary Islands, southwest by road from the island's capital city,
San Sebastián de la Gomera
San Sebastián de La Gomera is the capital and a municipality of La Gomera in the Canary Islands, Spain. It also hosts the main harbour. The population was 8,699 in 2013,Tenerife North and two return flights per day to
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that ...
.
Although from the island capital, the airport was located here to avoid disturbing the
Garajonay National Park
Garajonay National Park ( es, Parque nacional de Garajonay, ) is located in the center and north of the island of La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands (Spain). It was declared a national park in 1981 and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. ...
and avoid the cloudier and foggier climate to the North of the island, whilst the volcanic terrain gives few suitable sites anywhere on La Gomera, although even this site required extensive embankments at both ends of the runway.
History
Aviation in the island of
La Gomera
La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...
started in the 1950s, when a private airfield was constructed. Its name was "El Revolcadero" and it was situated on a hill west of the new airport, GPS 28.023443,-17.242084.
This airfield had a runway (09-27), an hangar and a small stand which was used as control tower. The airfield was for the owner's private use and for cargo and fumigation works.
In 1962, the island had a lot of sanitary assistance problems, so studies to build an airport in the island were started, but this project was not carried out until 1975. However, due to the opening of the
Tenerife South Airport
Tenerife South Airport ( es, Aeropuerto de Tenerife Sur) , also known as Tenerife South–Reina Sofía Airport, is the larger of the two international airports located on the island of Tenerife (the other being Tenerife North Airport) and t ...
and a new maritime line with the island, the project was again delayed.
Finally, in the 1980s, problems with wounded snake-bite evacuations necessitated building an airport in the island, and on 27 July 1987, an agreement for the construction of the airport was signed.
At the end of 1994 the airfield had a runway (09-27), an aircraft parking and a taxi way to the runway. The elected place to build the installations was the "Meseta de los Acantilados" (Plateau Cliffs), which is located 2 kilometers from the old airfield of "El Revolcadero".
At the end of 1991, when Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA), literally "Spanish Airports and Air Navigation", took over the airport, a passenger terminal was built, which was inaugurated in 1992. This passenger terminal has two floors and we can see in it the typical canarian architecture.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
In the next chart, the evolution of passengers traffic by year is indicated.