Leon Airport ( Spanish: Aeropuerto de León ), ( IATA : LEN , ICAO : LELN ) is a commercial airport located in the municipalities of Valverde de la Virgen and San Andres del Rabanedo , six miles west of Leon ( Spain ). It belongs to the major operator of the Spanish airports Aena .
| Leon Airport Aeropuerto de león | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||
| IATA : LEN - ICAO : LELN | ||||||||||
| Information | ||||||||||
| Type of | civil | |||||||||
| A country | Spain | |||||||||
| Location | Leon (province) | Leon | |||||||||
| opening date | ||||||||||
| Operator | Aena | |||||||||
| NUM height | +916 m | |||||||||
| Working hours | round the clock | |||||||||
| Website | Official site | |||||||||
| Runways | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Statistics | ||||||||||
| Annual passenger flow | ▼ 93 313 people (2010) | |||||||||
In 2008, 122 809 passengers used the airport services, in 2010 the volume of passenger traffic amounted to 93 313 people. The decrease in traffic was mainly due to the departure from the airport of the regional airline LagunAir . In 2008, the airport serviced 5,700 flights and handled about 16 tons of cargo.
The port is at the highest mark (916.3 meters) in comparison with other commercial and military airports of the Iberian Peninsula .
Content
- 1 History
- 2 Statistics
- 3 Airlines and destinations
- 4 notes
- 5 Links
History
Leon Airport has been leading its history since 1920, when Leon Air Base was built by order of the country's government. In 1924, work began on the territory of the air base to prepare the infrastructure facilities needed to service the transit flights of passenger aircraft that followed the Madrid - Asturias route and back. In 1929, the air base was temporarily open for the reception of passenger aircraft.
Further work on the creation of infrastructure led to the appearance of four hangars for long-term parking and repair of aircraft, bunkers for storing fuel, water, and a telephone communication center. In the center of the territory special navigation signs and a wind direction indicator were installed. During this period, the headquarters of the 1st Squadron of the 21st Wing of the Northwest Navy of Spain was located on the territory of the air base.
During the Civil War in Spain , the headquarters of several units of the airborne forces were located on the territory of the Leon airfield. By the end of the military conflict, the airfield had the letter “A” in the list of all military air bases of the country, by that time radio direction finding systems for objects and night illumination of the airfield territory had been built.
In the 1940s, an aviation school was opened at the airport, in which military pilots after undergoing refresher courses received a license for general aviation pilots. Subsequently, the school was disbanded and replaced by the Air Force School, which trained military pilots.
In 1964, Leon's airport was officially opened for commercial aviation, while the runway was equipped with systems for receiving and sending aircraft in both directions. In 1990, local and regional authorities decided to allocate funds for the reconstruction of the airport complex and the construction of new infrastructure. In accordance with this decision, the provincial self-government bodies appealed to the Ministry of Defense of Spain with a request for permission to build civilian facilities on the territory of the airdrome, which was still under military control. Official permission was obtained by the authorities in 1991.
In 1994, the plan for the first phase of the reconstruction of Leon Airport was submitted for approval, providing for the construction of an access road and several aircraft parking lots. Work on the first phase of the master plan was completed the following year, and two more were considered the plan of the second stage of reconstruction of the airport. In January 1999, the construction of the passenger terminal and several civilian facilities was completed, and on July 2 of the same year, a festive ceremony of the official opening of Leon Civil Airport took place. Soon after, Iberia's flagship airline opened several regular routes from Leon to Madrid and Barcelona .
In 2007, the second runway of the airport with a length of 3,000 meters was commissioned. In the modern period, the capacity of Leon Airport is about 500 thousand passengers per year, the port has the ability to handle both domestic flights and international flights.
Statistics
| Year | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passengers | 24,816 | 23,992 | 31 607 | 65,187 | 80 894 | 126,650 | 161 705 | 122 809 | 94,282 | 93,313 |
| Take-off operations and aircraft landings | 2605 | 2793 | 2951 | 5241 | 5279 | 6296 | 7328 | 5700 | 4767 | 4770 |
| Passenger Change | +17% | −3.4% | +31.8% | +106.2% | +24.1% | +56.6% | +27.7% | −24.1% | −23.5% | −2.0% |
| Change in operations | - | +7.2% | +5.7% | +66.5% | +0.7% | +19.3% | + 16.2% | −22.3% | −16.4% | +0.1% |
Airlines and Destinations
| Airline | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air europa | seasonal : Tenerife (North) |
| Iberia Air Nostrum operator | Barcelona, Ibiza, Madrid, Paris (Orly), Rome (Fiumicino), Valencia summer season : Palma de Mallorca |
Notes
Links
- León Airport official website by Aena
- León Airport website at AZ World Airports
- Information about LELN Airport from World Aero Data .. Source: DAFIF .
- LELN airport information from Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (valid as of October 2006).
- Current weather for LELN on NOAA / NWS
- LEN Airport Incident History at Aviation Safety Network