Gibraltar airport
| Gibraltar Airport Royal Air Force Station Gibraltar |
|
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | LXGB |
| IATA code | GIB |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 4 m (13 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 0.5 km north of Gibraltar |
| Local transport | Bus line 5 to the market square |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1939 |
| Terminals | 1 |
| Passengers | 548,230 (2016) |
| Air freight | 384 t (2014) |
| Flight movements |
4,968 (2016) |
| Start-and runway | |
| 09/27 | 1777 m × 46 m asphalt |
The Gibraltar Airport ( english Gibraltar Airport , IATA code GIB ; ICAO code: LXGB ) is a transport and military airport in Gibraltar on the Iberian Peninsula . The military calls the facility the Royal Air Force Station Gibraltar ( RAF Gibraltar for short ). However, the British Air Force has no longer permanently stationed flying units here.
history
The airport was built in 1939 when Gibraltar was of immense importance to the armed forces of Great Britain during World War II , and initially only served as an emergency landing site for the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy .
On December 2, 1987, an agreement was signed between the United Kingdom and Spain , according to which the airport is also allowed civil use. The construction of a new boarding gate on the north side of the airport site was also agreed, which is already part of La Línea de la Concepción and therefore part of Spanish territory . However, this treaty was never implemented because the Gibraltar government under Joe Bossano did not ratify it.
Since the capacity of the terminal built in 1959 was no longer able to cope with the increasing number of passengers, a new terminal was built from 2009 for approx. € 85 million, which was initially opened for arrivals in 2011 and completely replaced the old terminal in 2012. The new terminal has an area of 35,000 m² and a capacity of 1.5 million passengers per year.
Airlines and Destinations
Gibraltar is not served directly from German-speaking countries: British Airways flies daily from Heathrow , easyJet also daily from Gatwick , three times a week to Bristol and in the summer twice a week to Manchester , in addition, the now insolvent Monarch Airlines operated Gibraltar five times a week from Luton and four times a week Manchester , up to four times a week from Birmingham and in summer four times a week from Gatwick . Outside the United Kingdom, Royal Air Maroc currently flies to Casablanca twice a week with a stopover in Tangier (both in Morocco ) .
Between December 16, 2006 and December 2008, a daily direct flight to Madrid was offered with the Spanish airline Iberia . Since then there have been no more direct flights to Spain.
Specialty
Due to the small area of Gibraltar, the runway crosses Winston Churchill Avenue , the only road connection with Spain. Similar to a railroad crossing , this road is closed at every take-off and landing . Such a level crossing without overpasses or underpasses is unique worldwide for an international airport. During maneuvers by the Royal Air Force (RAF) there are therefore major disabilities, as last in the summer of 2012, when eight tornadoes operated from here for a month.
Incidents
- On July 4, 1943, a Consolidated Liberator of the Royal Air Force crashed into the sea shortly after taking off. The cause of the crash is unclear; of the eleven passengers and six crew members, only the pilot survived. Among the passengers was the Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile , Władysław Sikorski . Although no evidence has ever been presented, speculations that the accident could have been sabotage or a politically motivated murder assignment to Sikorski have not ceased to this day (see also plane crash near Gibraltar (1943) ) .
- On April 11, 1948, a Bristol 170 Mk.21 of Compagnie Air Transport (F-BENG) flew after take-off from Gibraltar airport on a cargo flight to Casablanca near Algeciras in the mountains. The pilots had not made the prescribed left turn immediately after take-off, but had flown straight ahead until they collided with the terrain at a height of around 800 meters. All three crew members were killed.
literature
- Marco Minari: British airstrip in the Mediterranean. In: AERO International , No. 6/2020, pp. 30–35
Web links
- Official site of the airport
- Airport data on World Aero Data ( 2006 )
- Airport data in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bus Services. Gibraltar Airport, accessed October 4, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Record Year at Gibraltar International Airport. Gibraltar Airport, accessed February 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Gibraltar Traffic Statistics 2014. Gibraltar Airport, accessed on October 29, 2015 (English, PDF; 251 KB).
- ^ GIB Technical Information. Gibraltar Airport, accessed October 4, 2013 .
- ↑ Airport contract ( Memento of December 12, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Gibraltar International Airport at www.airport-technology.com, accessed on March 24, 2015
- ↑ http://www.gibnet.com/airport/iberia.htm
- ↑ Tornadoes arrive on the Rock. Gibraltar Chronicle, June 19, 2012, archived from the original on September 22, 2013 ; accessed on October 4, 2013 .
- ^ Accident report Bristol 170 F-BENG , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on September 18, 2017.
- ↑ King 2011, p. 221.
