Girona–Costa Brava Airport

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Girona Airport ( IATA code GRO, ICAO code LEGE, Catalan c Aeroport de Girona -. Costa Brava, Spanish Aeropuerto de Gerona) is an international airport at Girona on the Costa Brava in Catalonia (Spain). It is located about 90 km northeast of Barcelona and is used, among others, Ryanair as a base.

History

To meet the growing tourism in the early 1960s, these companies' and resorts in the province of Girona demanded the construction of an airport. They took over 35 % of construction costs; the plots were provided by the provincial administration. On April 1, 1967, the airport was opened. By then, the entire charter traffic was handled by the airport and Perpignan with shuttle buses on congested in summer roads to the resorts on the Costa Brava.

The first years of operation gave the high expectations right. At the beginning of the 1970s, over a million passengers have already been counted annually. The Iberia set up a daily scheduled flight to Madrid, and the charter traffic grew so strong that the runway extended and not ten years after opening already a new terminal had to be built. Between 1967 and 1973 the annual number of flight movements rose from about 1,400 to about 12,000.

Then began an unstoppable appearing decline. The reasons were varied. Firstly, the progressive construction of motorways in France and Spain led to a shift of tourist flows from the charter flight to the road. On the other hand, the dominance of the nearby major airport Barcelona Airport Girona deprived the the remaining passenger potential. And finally, the airport management was not able to counteract this development. For almost thirty years failed all attempts to re- establish a regular service. At the beginning of the 1990s, the low point was reached. There were no more scheduled flights and a few charter flights during the summer. Otherwise, wrong only training flights for pilot training.

Since the liberalization of air transport in Europe and the inclusion in the route network of Ryanair 2003, the airport experienced an upswing again.

Airlines and destinations

Girona is served primarily by European low cost airlines and charter airlines such as Ryanair, which operates a base here, from Weeze, Lübeck and from the airport Cologne / Bonn and Transavia from Amsterdam. Girona Airport has entered into an agreement with Ryanair. This ensures Ryanair low airport charges, if Ryanair simultaneously conveyed a certain number of tourists annually in the region.

Location and Transport

The airport is located 8 km south of Girona and about 90 km northeast of the center of Barcelona district of the municipality Vilobí d' Onyar.

• To Barcelona and the Costa Brava: In front of the terminal moves at irregular intervals, as adapted to the incoming and outgoing flights, a bus to Barcelona center ( Estacio del Nord ), and several times a day in the beach resorts of the Costa Brava, such as Lloret de Mar.
• After / around Girona: front of the terminal there is a bus to the train station / ZOB Girona at regular intervals. From there, each about an hour drive fast trains and regional trains to Barcelona.