Ceuta Heliport ( es, Helipuerto de Ceuta) is the

heliport A heliport is a small airport suitable for use by helicopters and some other vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also have limited facilities such as fuel or hangars. I ...

, and only air transport facility, serving the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

autonomous city Autonomous city is a type of autonomous administrative division. Argentina The 1994 amendment of the Constitution of Argentina granted Buenos Aires city, previously the federal district of Argentina, the status of autonomous city, to allow its ...

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...

, in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

Overview

Since 9 January 2004, it has been possible to fly between

and Málaga by

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

. This heliport is the first in

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 ...

to be constructed and managed by

AENA 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 ...

in order to secure accessibility to the autonomous city by air. A rapid connection with the mainland is considered vital for the development of the Ceutan economy. The heliport is situated in the port of Ceuta, between the cargo dock and the fishing port, on land reclaimed from the sea in the north of the city. The heliport consists of three helipads, a short runway, a two-storey terminal building, a power station and a fire station. This infrastructure is key to Ceuta because it allowed passengers to connect in minutes through Málaga (mainland Spain's fourth airport by number of passengers), giving Ceuta access to all cities served from Málaga. Destinations include more than one hundred cities in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

(mainly in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Central Europe and the Nordic countries, but also the main cities of Eastern Europe:

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Riga and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

), North Africa, the Middle East (

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...

, Jeddah and

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

) and North America (

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

). The former ICAO code of Ceuta was GECT. It was changed in mid-2009.

Routes and services

The route was covered by '' Helicópteros del Sureste'', a transport company based in

Mutxamel Mutxamel ()Spanish exonym: Muchamiel or Muchamiel (in Spanish) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Alacantí, Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de Espa� ...

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

. The regular service operated since 1996, linking the city of Ceuta with

Málaga Airport Málaga Airport , officially Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport ( es, Aeropuerto de Málaga-Costa del Sol) since June 2011, is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Madrid–Barajas, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. It is significant for Sp ...

in thirty minutes. This route serves more than 20,000 annually, in approximately 2,600 flights. The helicopters used were the most recent versions of the

AW139 The AgustaWestland AW139 is a medium-lift twin-engined helicopter developed and produced by the Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, later wholly owned by Leonardo S.p.A. It is marketed at several different roles, including VI ...

which have a capacity of up to 15 passengers. It is due to become the main destination for helicopters leaving

Algeciras Heliport The Algeciras Heliport ( es, Helipuerto de Algeciras) is a public heliport in Algeciras (Province of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain). It was inaugurated on July 1, 2010, by the Minister of Development, José Blanco López, José Blanco. It was the second ...

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

In its second year of operation, the heliport served 20,233 passengers, handled 2,656 operations and 4.6 tonnes of cargo.

References

External links