Santiago–Rosalía de Castro Airport


Santiago–Rosalía de Castro Airport , previously named Lavacolla Airport and also known as Santiago de Compostela Airport, is an international airport serving the autonomous community and historical region of Galicia in Spain. It is the 2nd busiest airport in northern Spain after Bilbao Airport. It has been named after the Galician romanticist writer and poetess, Rosalía de Castro, since 12 March 2020.
The airport is located in the parish of Lavacolla, 12 km from Santiago de Compostela and handled 2,903,427 passengers in 2019. It is the main focus city of Vueling in the northwest Iberian Peninsula, and Ryanair's only focus city in Northern Spain. The Christian pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago runs near the airport.

History

The airport was set up by a group of aviation enthusiasts in October 1932 and two months directors were chosen to select where the airport was going to be built. In 1935 construction work started at the airport where two years later on 27 September 1937 the first scheduled flight from Santiago de Compostela took place. After the Spanish Civil war, political prisoners were forced to work in the construction of the airport.
In 1969 a new terminal was built at the airport. It has had several expansions taking place since it opened. It closed in 2011 following a brand new terminal being built at the airport. In 1981, a cargo terminal was built, giving the airport capacity to handle cargo flights. During the 1990s, the airport had non-stop service to South America operated by Viasa.
On 13 October 2011 a new passenger terminal opened at the airport, replacing the old terminal, opened in 1969 and remodeled in 1993.

Terminal

The airport currently has one operating terminal. The old terminal at Santiago de Compostela airport opened in 1969 and had lots of expansions during its lifetime. The old terminal closed on the night of 13 October 2011 when operations transferred to the new terminal.
The new terminal at Santiago de Compostela Airport officially opened on 13 October 2011 and passenger operations transferred there the following day. It is adjacent to the old terminal and has a size of 74,000 sq m. It has 22 check-in desks, 3 security checkpoints, 4 baggage carousels, and 13 gates of which 5 have airbridges. The baggage hall is split into two zones, one for Schengen flights and one for Non-Schengen. It can handle as many as 4 million passengers per year. The terminal is due to be expanded in the future. This includes adding another 5 airbridges to 5 of the current gates as well as 3 more baggage carousels and an expanded shopping area.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

During the early 2000s, numbers increased significantly at the airport, from 1.24 million in 2002 to peak at 2.46 million in 2011. Because of the financial crisis in Spain, those numbers decreased to 2.1 million in 2014. Cargo has decreased significantly over the last ten years. The Spanish economic recovery in the mid-2010s and the rise of Santiago de Compostela as an international destination are again increasing passenger numbers, breaking the 2.50 million mark for the first time in 2016.

Traffic figures by year



Passengers handledPassengers % ChangeAircraft movementsAircraft % ChangeFreight Freight % Change
20001,332,893-19,660-6,773-
20011,281,334 3.86%19,084 2.92%6,228 8.04%
20021,240,730 3.16%17.362 9.02%5,716 8.22%
20031,381,826 11.37%18,454 6.28%5,318 6.96%
20041,580,675 14.39%21,593 17.00%4,938 7.14%
20051,843,118 16.60%25,693 18.98%3,805 22.94%
20061,994,519 8.21%24,719 3.79%2,587 32.01%
20072,050,172 2.79%24,643 0.30%2,749 6.26%
20081,917,466 6.47%21,945 10.94%2,418 12.04%
20091,944,068 1.38%20,166 8.10%1,988 17.78%
20102,172,869 11.76%21,252 5.38%1,964 1.20%
20112,464,330 13.41%22,322 5.03%1,787 9.01%
20122,194,611 10.94%19,511 12.59%1,815 1.56%
20132,073,055 5.53%18,688 4.21%1,929 6.28%
20142,083,873 0.52%19,431 3.97%2,095 8.60%
20152,296,248 10.20%20,540 5.70%2,311 10.10%
20162,510,740 9.30%21,227 3.60%2,936 27.04%
20172,644,925 5.34%21,520 1.38%2,693 8.28%
20182,724,750 3.01%21,839 1.50%3,019 12.10%
20192,903,427 6.56%22,396 2.55%3,201 6.02%

Traffic figures by month

2019 Passengers2020 PassengersPassengers % Change
January178,769179,454 0.4%
February165,186175,669 6.3%
March211,52577,934 63.2%
April253,393829 99.7%
May263,221139 99.9%
June277,93310,750 96.1%
July302,074--
August295,425--
September281,431--
October263,999--
November201,069--
December209,402--

Route statistics

RankCityPassengers% Change
2018 / 19		Carriers
1 Madrid721.798 7.1%Iberia, Iberia Express, Ryanair
2 Barcelona427.442 1.44%Ryanair, Vueling
3 Palma de Mallorca152.730 3.49%Air Europa, Iberia Regional, Ryanair, Vueling
4 Alicante147.807 20.88%Ryanair, Vueling
5 Málaga136.751 18.32%Ryanair, Vueling
6 Tenerife 121.292 36.71%Air Europa, Ryanair
7 Gran Canaria111.508 20.44%Air Europa, Iberia Regional, Ryanair
8 Valencia95.725 1.42%Ryanair
9 Lanzarote88.557 17.27%Air Europa, Ryanair, Vueling
10 Sevilla86.336 14.12%Ryanair

RankCityPassengers% Change
2017 / 18		Carriers
1 London Stansted114.741 48.93%Ryanair
2 Geneva91.695 6.99%easyJet Switzerland
3 Dublin54.888 24.68%Aer Lingus
4 Paris 54.169 1.48%Vueling
5 Frankfurt48.758 18.79%Lufthansa
6 Milan 47.164 2.88%Ryanair
7 Basel43.308 2.69%easyJet Switzerland
7 Frankfurt 36.588 13.62%Ryanair
8 Zürich35.128 11.08%Switzerland, Vueling
10 Amsterdam28.897 0.56%Vueling

RankCountryPassengers% Change
2018 / 19		Scheduled Carriers
1 Spain2.236.916 8.09%Air Europa, Iberia, Iberia Express, Iberia Regional, Ryanair, Vueling
2 Switzerland170.139 6.83%easyJet Switzerland, Switzerland, Vueling
3 United Kingdom138.756 22.5%easyJet, Ryanair
4 Italy92.269 7.89%Ryanair, Vueling
5 Germany86.532 15.43%Lufthansa, Ryanair
6 Ireland55.049 25.04%Aer Lingus
7 France54.499 1.2%Vueling
8 Netherlands28.907 0.6%Vueling
9 Belgium17.996 6.82%Vueling
10 Malta5.986 -Ryanair

RankCarriersPassengers% Change
2018 / 19
1 Ryanair1.239.243 11.61%
2 Vueling682.463 13.21%
3 Iberia Express481.184 7.3%
4 easyJet Switzerland134.972 5.65%
5 Air Europa100.428 7.04%
6 Iberia Regional64.941 23.08%
7 Aer Lingus54.700 24.87%
8 Lufthansa49.523 15.19%
9 easyJet40.240 26.15%
10 Swiss International Air Lines17.763 26.29%

Ground transportation

Road

The airport is linked with Santiago de Compostela by the Autovía A-54. This motorway is currently being extended to Lugo where it will connect with the Autovía A-6, providing toll-free motorway access to the rest of Spain; and to the French border through the Autovía A-8 that intersects with the Autovía A-6 near Lugo. Nearby Autopista AP-9 connects the airport directly to A Coruña, Ferrol, Pontevedra, Vigo and the Portuguese border. Ourense is reachable through the Autopista AP-53 that connects with the Autopista AP-9.
There are several major car rental companies at the airport. The airport has more than 5,000 short and long-term covered parking spaces in the new terminal building. In addition, there are several low-cost, long-term private parking facilities around the airport.

Bus services

A city bus service operated by Empresa Freire every 30 minutes connects the airport with the center of Santiago de Compostela, and the bus and train terminals in the city. From the station in Santiago de Compostela, private coach operators run direct services in a multiple daily basis to most cities and towns in Galicia, including A Coruña, Ferrol, Lugo, Ourense, Pontevedra and Vigo, as well as long-distance services to the rest of Spain, and international services. In addition, three regional services link the airport directly to A Coruña, to Lugo, including several stops in the French Way of the Camino de Santiago, and to the :es:La Mariña|A Mariña coastal area in the province of Lugo.

Rail

There are no rail facilities at the airport. However the , located 12 km. away, is connected to the airport by the city bus service every 30 minutes. There are combined available train+bus tickets to and from the airport. The train station in Santiago de Compostela has medium and long-distance high-speed Alvia and AVE services to most cities in Galicia, including A Coruña, Ferrol, Ourense, Pontevedra, Vilagarcía and Vigo; and further to Madrid Chamartín and the rest of Spain.

Foot and bike

The Camino de Santiago runs next to the runway of the airport. This is the busiest and final journey in the Camino de Santiago that goes through the famous Monte do Gozo. There are dedicated pathways for both pedestrians and bikers towards the city. The walking distance from the runway to the Cathedral is estimated at 10.90 km.

Accidents and Incidents