Girona–Costa Brava Airport (Catalan: Aeroport de Girona-Costa Brava, Spanish: Aeropuerto de Gerona-Costa Brava) is an airport located 12.5 km southwest of the city of Girona, next to the small village of Vilobí d'Onyar, in the north-east of Catalonia, Spain. The airport is well connected to the Costa Brava and the Pyrenees. Girona Airport is used as an alternative airport for Barcelona as well, even though the airport is 74 km 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 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, Girona Airport is convenient for the resorts along the Costa Brava, such as Lloret de Mar, l'Estartit and Blanes. It is about a 40-minute drive from the French border and many people use Girona Airport as a way of getting to the Pyrenees and the ski resorts of Andorra.

By car

The airport is served by three main roads:

By bus

There are six bus lines operating in the airport to:

By train

The closest main line railway station to the airport is in Girona. The closest railway station is in fact Riudellots Halt, 4 km away from the airport. There is a project to build a station for the AVE line LGV Perpignan–Figueres, which passes within a few hundred meters of the terminal.

Incidents and accidents