Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell Airport (, ; ) is a public airport owned by the government of Catalonia and hosts general aviation and commercial flights. It is located in the municipality of Montferrer i Castellbò in Catalonia, eastern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and serves the city of

La Seu d'Urgell La Seu d'Urgell (; , formerly ''Urgell'') is a town located in Alt Urgell county in Alt Pirineu, Catalonia, Spain. The town is also the head of its judicial district and the seat of the Bishop of Urgell, one of the co-princes of Andorra. It is ...

and the

microstate A microstate or ministate is a sovereign state having a very small population or land area, usually both. However, the meanings of "state" and "very small" are not well-defined in international law. Some recent attempts to define microstates ...

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

, which is 12 km north of the airport. The airport has a short runway which limits aircraft sizes and the distance to destinations.

History

''La Seu d'Urgell airfield'' opened in 1982 but was closed to commercial traffic in 1984 and was used only by private aircraft until 2008, when the airport was purchased by the Catalan government and closed pending its redevelopment and reopening as a commercial airport. In 2008, the Institut Català del Sòl (a department of the Catalan government) bought 85% of the airport's land to create ''Pirineus–La Seu d'Urgell Airport''. In 2009, a contract was awarded to Acsa Sorigué for the redevelopment work towards reopening the airport. The airport reopened on 4 June 2010. In the first year there was a total of 1,751 flights, with more than 3,000 people on board. An agreement between the Catalan government and the

Principality of Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south. Believed to have been crea ...

, located 12 km away, was reached in 2014 to rename the facility ''Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell Airport'' following financial investment from Andorra. On 8 January 2015, the airport opened as a public airport, and started receiving regular or tourist charter flights during 2015. Eight tourist charter flights per direction were operated by Swiftair during the summer 2015, four from

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, four from

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

. 2015 also saw the arrival of Air Andorra and Andorra Airlines, with both airlines using the airport as its main hub and offering flights to various airports in Spain and France. French regional airline Twin Jet operated flights to the airport during March 2018, with routes from

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

and

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell Airport:

References

External links

Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell Airport
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andorra-La Seu d'Urgell Airports in Catalonia Aviation in Andorra La Seu d'Urgell Airports established in 1982 1982 establishments in Spain