A Coruña Airport , formerly known as Alvedro Airport, is the

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

serving the Galician city of

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and ...

in northwestern

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") , ...

. The airport is located in the municipality of Culleredo, approximately from the city center. It is a part of the network of airports 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 ...

, a Spanish state-owned company responsible for airport management. Air traffic control is provided by Ferronats. In 2021, 595,286 passengers used the airport.

History

Early years

On 11 September 1953, the

Council of Ministers of Spain The Council of Ministers ( es, Consejo de Ministros) is the main collective decision-making body of the Government of Spain, and it is exclusively composed of the Prime Minister, the deputy prime ministers and the ministers (22 as of 2020). Ju ...

ordered the urgent construction of an airport to serve the city of

. This was the first airport to serve the area, as the hilly topography and meteorological conditions in the region made construction difficult. At the time, the only air service to the province of

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

was through the Lavacolla Airport in

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of S ...

, which opened in 1935. The first airport was built on the Alvedro meseta in the municipality of Culleredo. The original air field was very sparse; subsequent projects included the construction of parking facilities and a terminal. In 1961, radio, and electric monitoring facilities were constructed. In 1962, a terminal building was constructed, and landing lights and other signals were installed on the runway. At the same time, the legislature of A Coruña ordered the construction of a road to connect the airport with the cities of A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela. In 1963, a services building was added to the airport. The construction was completed in May 1963, when the airport was opened to national commercial traffic. The inauguration of the airport took place on 25 May 1963, when the first commercial airliner arrived from

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. This first flight was operated by the Spanish

Aviaco Aviación y Comercio, S.A., doing business as Aviaco, was a Spanish airline headquartered in the ''Edificio Minister'' in Madrid."World Airline Directory." ''Flight International''. 16 May 1981. p1411 "Maudes 51, Edificio Minister, Madrid 3, Spai ...

airline. During 1964, Aviaco operated a

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the ...

- Santander-

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ...

line served by

Convair 440 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

s. The routing proved to be spectacularly unpopular and unprofitable, and was discontinued after a year of service. A brief attempt in 1971 to run an identical routing was equally unsuccessful. By the end of the 1960s, the airport had begun receiving charter flights from Switzerland and London, England. A customs office was opened in 1979, and an air traffic control room was added in 1990. A number of improvements were made during the 1980s, including an increase of runway gradation of 1 degree 12 minutes and the installation of an

Instrument Landing System In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

(ILS).

Development since the 1990s

By 1994, yearly passenger numbers had surpassed 259,000. Further expansion of the airport and its facilities, including a new terminal building, as well as the urbanization of the surrounding area has prompted continuous growth and the increasing popularity of the airport. In 2001, the airport installed

jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

s and a cargo terminal. Currently the airport has a single runway (03/21), long, and is capable of supporting up to 12 take-offs and landings per hour. Current and future projects include the expansion of parking facilities, an upgrade of the ILS system from Category II to Category III, a short runway expansion, and expanded aircraft parking facilities.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Accidents and incidents

*On 16 August 1973, Aviaco Flight 118 crashed while trying to land at Alvedro Airport. All 85 people on board the aircraft plus one person on the ground were killed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:A Coruna Airport Coruna Airports established in 1963 Buildings and structures in A Coruña Transport in A Coruña