Castellón Airport (, ), is an airport serving the city of

Castellón de la Plana Castellón de la Plana (in ), or simply Castellón (), is the capital city of the province of Castellón, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is located in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Costa del Azahar by the Mediterranean Sea. Th ...

, located near

Vilanova d'Alcolea Vilanova d'Alcolea () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the province of Castellón (province), Castelló, Valencian Community, Spain. The town is located inland 36 km northeast of the town of Castelló de la Plana, on the north of ...

, Benlloc and Cabanes in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

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 ...

History

Foundation and construction

The airport was officially declared "open" by local authorities in March 2011, shortly before regional elections and as total cost reached €150 million, despite having neither airlines signed up to land there nor government approval to operate. Delayed for several years, commercial flights were due to begin on 1 April 2012, but the first commercial flight to the airport landed on 15 September 2015. In February 2012, it was reported that modifications would have to be made to the runway before the airport could be brought into use. It was then later reported that the runway was to be dug up entirely. The airport has become a symbol of the wasteful spending that helped sink Spain deep into the 2008–2012 financial crisis. For instance, the company in charge of running the airport, Aerocas, was found to have spent 26 million euros, a sixth of the cost of the airport, on sponsoring various sports teams in its region. Also, a $375,000, 24-metre-tall statue, often interpreted as a representation of Carlos Fabra, the formerly powerful local politician who was the driving force behind its construction, was erected just outside the airport. Fabra has been under judicial investigation in connection with several cases of corruption and tax evasion, and was sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud in December 2014. On 14 January 2014, nearly four years after the formal opening of the airport, a first flight departed from Castellón-Costa Azahar. Air Nostrum charter flight YW2003 carried the

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

football team, which is sponsored by the airport itself, to

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

for their Copa del Rey match against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

Scheduled operations

The first regular scheduled, albeit seasonal, flights from Castellón-Costa Azahar to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and London Stansted, operated by

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

, began in September 2015. The European Union has opened a formal investigation into whether both the Canadian company that manages the airport ( SNC-Lavalin) and Ryanair are receiving illegal subsidies from the regional government. Between August and November 2020, three

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

aircraft that were retired were transported to Castellón–Costa Azahar Airport for dismantling. One aircraft, registration G-CIVD, caught fire and was severely damaged. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Castellón–Costa Azahar Airport became a storage facility for Ukraine International Airlines fleet of six

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

aircraft. Also in 2022, a number of airlines scheduled new routes from the airport. These included

Wizz Air {{Infobox airline , airline = Wizz Air Holdings Plc. , IATA = , ICAO = , callsign = , aoc = , hubs = , focus_cities = , frequent_flyer = {{ubl, class=nowrap , Wizz All You Can Fly , Wizz Discount Club , Wizz Privilege Pass , ...

to Budapest,

to Dublin and Brussels South Charleroi and Air Nostrum connecting the airport domestically to Madrid.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Castellón–Costa Azahar Airport:

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castellon-Costa Azahar Airport Airports in the Valencian Community Transport companies of Spain Airports established in 2011