Ceuta Heliport () is the

heliport A heliport is a small airport which has a helipad, suitable for use by helicopters, powered lift, and various types of vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also hav ...

, and only air transport facility, serving the

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 ...

autonomous city An autonomous city is a type of autonomous administrative division. The most prominent example of this is in Argentina, a federal country with 23 provinces and an autonomous city, officially called the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. In recent y ...

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

, in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

Overview

Since 9 January 2004, it has been possible to fly between

and

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

. This heliport is the first in

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 ...

to be constructed and managed 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 ...

in order to secure accessibility to the autonomous city by air. A rapid connection with the mainland is considered vital for the development of the Ceutan economy. The heliport is situated in the port of Ceuta, between the cargo dock and the fishing port, on land reclaimed from the sea in the north of the city. The heliport consists of three helipads, a short runway, a two-storey terminal building, a power station and a fire station. This infrastructure is key to Ceuta because it allowed passengers to access to

airport (mainland Spain's fourth airport by number of passengers), giving Ceuta access to all cities served from Málaga. The former ICAO code of Ceuta was GECT. It was changed in mid-2009.

Routes and services

The route was covered by '' Helicópteros del Sureste'', a transport company based in Mutxamel,

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

. The regular service operated since 1996, linking the city of Ceuta with

Málaga Airport Málaga–Costa del Sol Airport is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, Madrid–Barajas, Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport, Barcelona–El Prat and Palma de Mallorca Airport, Palma d ...

in thirty minutes. This route serves more than 20,000 annually, in approximately 2,600 flights. The helicopters used were the most recent versions of the AW139 which have a capacity of up to 15 passengers. It is due to become the main destination for helicopters leaving Algeciras Heliport.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

In its second year of operation, the heliport served 20,233 passengers, and handled 2,656 operations and 4.6 tonnes of cargo.

References

External links