Valencia Airport, also known as Manises Airport, is the tenth-busiest Spanish airport in terms of passengers and second in the Valencian Community after Alicante. It is situated 8 km west of the city of Valencia, in Manises. The airport has flight connections to about 20 European countries and 8.53 million passengers passed through the airport in 2019.

History

The Valencia Airport opened in 1933, and had its first regular flight the following year. The airport is the main base of Iberia's regional carrier Air Nostrum. Irish low-cost airline Ryanair used the airport as a hub since 2007 but decided to close it in November 2008 following a dispute over subsidies by the airport authorities. Since then the airline has continued to operate out of Valencia and reopened base in 2011. Delta Air Lines inaugurated a route to New York City, Valencia's first transatlantic service, in June 2009. It operated the flight with a Boeing 757. The company initially planned to fly year-round to New York. A few weeks after the maiden flight, however, Delta decided to make the service seasonal due to low ticket sales. It ultimately severed the link in September 2012 because of poor demand and rising fuel costs. In June 2025, Air Transat will begin seasonal flights to Montreal.

Facilities

Terminal

Valencia Airport consists of a single terminal that has been built in three stages which are directly connected to each other. The landside hall consists of three check-in areas: 1-12 is the newest one with the airport station beneath it, 13-42 is the oldest main building with a currently derelict upper floor, and 43-56 is the largest annex, housing most airlines. A single central security area leads to the airside with gates 1-22, with gates 1-4 being the newest area designated for non-Schengen flights. Gates 12-22 are located in a separate hall designated as a regional terminal that opened in time for the 2007 America's Cup which allows walk-boarding, mainly for flights by Iberia Regional and low-cost carriers. Some of the gates are equipped with jet bridges. The airside area features several food outlets and shops.

Runway and apron

The sole operational runway has been also lengthened by 50 m by 2007. The former runway 04/22 is not in use and has no ILS but has a helipad at the southwestern end.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Busiest routes

Ground transport

Road

Valencia airport is situated adjacent to the Autovía A-3 highway which connects Valencia with Madrid and is also close to the Autovía A-7 coastal route to Barcelona. It is connected to the city of Valencia by a regular bus line operated by Fernanbus which takes between 30 and 35 minutes and passes through Mislata, Quart de Poblet and Manises.

Rail

The metro network Metrovalencia with lines 3 and 5 on the airport station connect the airport to the city centre (15 minutes), the main Railway Station of the city Estació del Nord (20 minutes) and the port of Valencia (30 minutes).