Lleida–Alguaire Airport (Catalan: ''Aeroport de Lleida-Alguaire'', Spanish: ''Aeropuerto de Lérida-Alguaire'') 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 in
Alguaire,
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 ...
; about from the centre of
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 ...
and about from the centre of
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 ...
.
History
Lleida–Alguaire was designed as a
regional airport
A domestic airport is an airport that handles only flights within the same country. Domestic airports do not have customs and immigration facilities and so cannot handle flights to or from a foreign airport.
These airports often have short r ...
to provide both passenger and cargo transport to Western Catalonia (the
Ponent
Ponent, also known as the Lleida region following the vegueries law, is the westernmost of the eight regions (Vegueria, ''vegueries'') defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. It has an area of 5,586 km2, and 365,289 inhabitants as of 2022. ...
region and
Catalan Pyrenees),
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 ...
and some counties (comarques) in
La Franja
La Franja (; "The Strip"; ) is the area of Catalan-speaking territories of eastern Aragon bordering Catalonia, in Spain. It literally means ''"the strip"'' and can also more properly be called (Aragonese Strip), (Western Strip) or (Eastern St ...
.
The airport construction project had a budget of 130 million
euro
The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
and it was the first airport built and owned by the
Generalitat of Catalonia
The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is Self-governance, self-governed as an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parli ...
, via its public-capital company
Aeroports de Catalunya. It is also one of the few Spanish airports not owned by
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 ...
.
The original plan intended for the full redevelopment of the already existing
Alfés aerodrome located south of
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 ...
but due to pressure from ecologist groups this plan never materialised. It was later decided to locate the airport north of the city next to the future A-14 highway because of its convenience. Together the airport and the highway, which ends abruptly a few kilometres north of the airport, have caused endless amounts of controversy over the years as locals consider both projects as fake promises and embezzlement of public funds.
The airport was inaugurated on the 17 of January 2010 with the arrival of an
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus.
The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France.
The first membe ...
from
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 ...
operated by
Vueling
Vueling S.A. (, ) is a List of airlines of Spain, Spanish low-cost airline based at Viladecans in Greater Barcelona with operating bases at Barcelona–El Prat Airport (main); Orly Airport, Paris-Orly Airport in Paris, France; Schiphol Airport, ...
, onboard traveled members of the Catalan authorities and the press.
Since then, following the success from other Spanish airports like
Teruel Airport
Teruel Airport is an airport near Teruel in the Teruel Province of Spain. Known under the commercial name Plataforma Aeroportuaria-Teruel (PLATA), it was certified for public use by the Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA) on 5 ...
, Lleida-Alguaire has been working to position itself as an
aircraft maintenance
Aircraft maintenance is the performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft or aircraft part, including overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of modifications, compliance ...
and
aircraft storage facility, as well as cooperating with both public and private research projects. In recent years, the airport has also gained popularity as a
flight training
Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills.
Flight training can be conducted under a str ...
location.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics

The following table shows total passenger numbers at Lleida–Alguaire Airport from 2010 to date.
Ground transportation
Two new highways, the
Autovías
A-14 and
A-22, provide road access to the airport.
References
External links
*
*
Lleida–Alguaire Airportat Architecture News Plus
Airports established in 2010
Airports in Catalonia
Transport in Lleida
Transport in Segrià
{{Catalonia-airport-stub