Girona–Costa Brava Airport ( Catalan: ''Aeroport de Girona-Costa Brava'',

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ''Aeropuerto de Gerona-Costa Brava'') is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located southwest of the city of

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

, next to the small village of Vilobí d'Onyar, in the north-east of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

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 ...

. The airport is well connected to the

Costa Brava The Costa Brava (; ; "Wild Coast" or "Rough Coast") is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Sources differ on the exact definition of the Costa Brava. Usually it can be regarded as stretching from the town of Blanes, northeas ...

and the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

. Girona Airport is used as an alternative airport for

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

as well, even though the airport is north of the center of Barcelona.

History

The airport was built in 1965, but passenger traffic was modest. The early 2000s saw passenger numbers grow spectacularly after

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 ...

chose Girona as one of its European hubs, marketing it as 'Barcelona-Girona'. In 1993, Girona Airport dealt with only 275,000 passengers; in the six years from 2002 to 2008 passenger numbers increased by nearly ten times from just over 500,000 to more than 5.5 million, but after Ryanair began to move their Barcelona operations from Girona to the larger El Prat International Airport, half of these were lost again in the next 4 years until 2012 with only 2.8 million passengers. 2014 saw less than 2.2 million passengers pass through the airport. In 2016 it carried just 1.6 million passengers.

Facilities

The airport consists of one two-storey passenger terminal building. On the ground floor there are 33 check-in desks, with 11 boarding gates on the first floor for both domestic and international flights. Food is available in the departures area of the airport, as well as a few shops.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Girona:

Statistics

Busiest routes

Ground transportation

Along with being an alternative option to

Barcelona Airport Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within cit ...

, Girona Airport is convenient for the resorts along the ''

'', such as

Lloret de Mar Lloret de Mar (; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal town in Catalonia, Spain. It is south of Girona and northeast of Barcelona. With a population of 38,402 in 2021, it is the second largest town in the Selva (comarca), Selva comarc ...

l'Estartit L'Estartit (; ) is a small town and seaside resort on the Costa Brava, part of the municipality of Torroella de Montgrí in the Baix Empordà county, Girona province, autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The town is situated between the fo ...

and

Blanes Blanes () is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Selva (comarca), Selva in Province of Girona, Girona, Catalonia, Spain. During Roman rule it was named Blanda or Blandae. It is known as the ...

. It is about a 40-minute drive from the French border and many people use Girona Airport as a way of getting to the

and the ski resorts of

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 ...

By car

The airport is served by three main roads: * E-15/AP-7 (

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

– south of Spain) * C-25 (

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

–

Vic Vic, vic or VIC may refer to: People and fictional characters * Vic (name), a list of people, fictional characters and mascots with the given name * V.I.C. (rapper) (born 1987), stage name of an American rapper Places * Vic, Spain, a town and ...

–

) * N-II, (

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 ...

–

)

By bus

There are six bus lines operating in the airport to: *

(departure times depend on flight schedule, journey time: approx. 75 min, single ticket: €19.50) *

/ Maresme (stops at

Tossa de Mar Tossa de Mar (; Spanish: Tosa de Mar) is a municipality in Catalonia, Spain, located on the coastal Costa Brava, about 100 kilometres north of Barcelona and 100 kilometres south of the French border. It is accessible through Girona Airport, some ...

Malgrat de Mar Malgrat de Mar () is a municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Barcelona Coast between Santa Susanna, Barcelona, Santa Su ...

Santa Susanna The Church of Saint Susanna at the Baths of Diocletian () is a Roman Catholic, Catholic parish church, parish and Cistercian conventual church located on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, Italy. There has been a titular church associated to its site as ...

, Pineda de Mar and Calella de la Costa) * North

(stops at

Figueres Figueres (; ) is the capital city of Alt Empordà county, in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Dalí Theatre and Museum, a large museum designed by Dalí himself which att ...

Roses A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

, Pineda de Mar, Calella de Palafrugell and

) *

(25 minutes, one every hour) *

in France *

By train

The closest main line railway station to the airport is in

. The closest railway station is in fact Riudellots Halt, away from the airport. There is a project to build a station for the

AVE is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...

line LGV Perpignan–Figueres, which passes within a few hundred meters of the terminal.

Incidents and accidents

* On 14 September 1999, at 21:47

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

, a Boeing 757-204 charter flight from

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, UK, with 236 passengers and 9 crew overshot the runway when landing in a storm and broke apart. After leaving the runway, it ran across flat grassland beside the runway, before going diagonally over a substantial earth mound adjacent to the airport boundary, becoming semi-airborne as a result. Beyond the mound it hit and severed a number of medium-sized trees and the right engine struck the boundary fence. The aircraft then yawed considerably to the right, passed through the fence, landed again in a field, and its main landing gears collapsed. It finally stopped after a slide across the field. Damage was substantial: the fuselage was broken in two places and the

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

and both engines detached. Remarkably, there were no immediate fatalities but 44 people, including the aircraft's captain, received hospital treatment for severe to minor injuries. One elderly passenger died a week later.

References

External links

Official website
(

Aena ENAIRE is the air navigation manager in Spain, certified for the provision of enroute, approach and aerodrome control services. As a Statutory corporation, public corporate entity attached to the Ministry of Public Works (Spain), Spanish Minis ...

) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Girona-Costa Brava Airport Airports in Catalonia Airports established in 1965 Transport in Girona