Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Gran Canaria Airport (GCLP/LPA) is the principal international gateway to the island of Gran Canaria, sited on the Bay of Gando on the island's eastern coast. It is a major AENA-operated hub with twin long, hard-surfaced runways and full instrument approach facilities, making it a significant destination for airliner and general aviation traffic alike in the Canary Islands network.
Gran Canaria Airport, known locally as Las Palmas Airport and carrying the IATA code LPA, is a large international passenger and freight airport on the island of Gran Canaria in Spain's Canary Islands. It is owned and managed by the state airport operator AENA and serves as a base for Binter Canarias, Canaryfly, Ryanair, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Vueling. For a simulator pilot, its two long parallel hard runways, ILS approach and busy controlled airspace make it a realistic and demanding destination, while its role as an important link to West Africa, Madeira and the Azores gives it an unusual traffic mix for an island airport.
The airport lies in the eastern part of Gran Canaria on the Bay of Gando, about 19 km south of the island's capital, Las Palmas, and around 25 km from the popular tourist resorts in the south of the island. As a major international airport it sits within controlled airspace served by approach, tower and ground control.
Gran Canaria has two parallel physical runways aligned 03/21. Runway 03L/21R is 10,142 ft long, has a hard surface, is lit, and is equipped with ILS at both ends. Runway 03R/21L is 10,134 ft long, also hard-surfaced and lit, but without an ILS. Field elevation is 49 ft.
Air traffic services are provided on discrete frequencies for each function: Approach on 120.9 MHz, ATIS on 118.6 MHz, Ground on 121.7 MHz and Tower on 118.3 MHz. The airport has an ILS available on runway 03L/21R for instrument approaches.
Gran Canaria Airport has long been an important node in the Spanish air-transport network, ranking among the busiest airports in the country by passenger and cargo volume. It has served as a key hub for flights to West Africa, including Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Cape Verde, as well as to the Atlantic island groups of Madeira and the Azores. The airport was designated an official alternative emergency landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle programme until that programme ended in July 2011. From around 2011 there were plans to expand the airport, including extending the terminal and constructing a new runway, alongside separate long-standing proposals for a rail link connecting the airport to Las Palmas and Maspalomas, though as of 2018 this rail scheme remained significantly underfunded.
Today Gran Canaria Airport is the busiest airport in the Canary Islands and one of the five busiest in Spain, handling in excess of ten million passengers annually. It serves as a base for Binter Canarias, Canaryfly, Ryanair, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Vueling, and continues to be an important hub for routes to West Africa and the mid-Atlantic islands. The airport has been recognised by Airports Council International with a Best Airport in Europe award in its passenger category and holds Level 1 Airport Carbon Accreditation. The passenger terminal is closed to the public overnight, with access restricted to boarding pass holders and staff during those hours.
