Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Girona-Costa Brava Airport (ICAO: LEGE, IATA: GRO) lies in north-east Catalonia, close to the village of Vilobí d'Onyar, about 12.5 km south-west of Girona city. Operated by Aena, it is a full instrument-approach commercial field with a single long paved runway, historically known for its role as a low-cost carrier base and as an occasional alternate for Barcelona.
Girona-Costa Brava Airport is a public airport owned and operated by Aena, serving the city of Girona, the Costa Brava resorts and, at times, acting as an overspill or alternate airport for Barcelona despite lying well to the north of it. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting combination of a single long hard runway with a full ILS, a controlled tower environment, and a notable place in European low-cost aviation history thanks to its period as a major Ryanair base.
The airport sits in north-eastern Catalonia, Spain, next to the small village of Vilobí d'Onyar, roughly 12.5 km south-west of Girona city and around 74 km north of central Barcelona. It is served by controlled airspace with approach, ground and tower services (see Radio & Navigation), reflecting its status as a large commercial airport rather than a simple GA strip. Field elevation is 433 ft, at coordinates 41.9008N, 2.7606E.
The airport has a single physical runway, 01/19, orientated roughly north-south. Runway 01 is 7,860 ft long and runway 19 is 7,355 ft long; both directions are hard-surfaced and lit, and runway 19 is equipped with an ILS approach.
Air traffic services are provided on Approach (APP) 120.9 MHz, Ground (GND) 121.7 MHz and Tower (TWR) 118.5 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 19, giving instrument approach guidance for the main landing direction.
The airport lies immediately next to the small village of Vilobí d'Onyar, which serves as a useful ground reference when approaching from the Girona city side to the north-east. The AP-7/E-15 motorway corridor running roughly north-south past the field is another prominent visual feature for pilots orientating themselves in the surrounding countryside of north-east Catalonia.
The airport was built in 1965 following an initiative of the Girona provincial council, which had begun seeking a site for a provincial airport in the area in the late 1950s before settling on Vilobí d'Onyar. Traffic remained modest for decades until the early 2000s, when Ryanair selected Girona as one of its European hubs and marketed it as 'Barcelona-Girona', driving passenger numbers from around 550,000 in 2002 to more than 5.5 million by 2008. From 2011 Ryanair began shifting its Barcelona-area operations to the larger El Prat airport, and passenger numbers fell sharply over the following years. The airport is also associated with a serious accident: on 14 September 1999 a Britannia Airways Boeing 757 charter flight from Cardiff overran the runway while landing in a storm, running across grassland beyond the airport boundary before breaking apart; the aircraft was written off.
Girona-Costa Brava Airport continues to operate as an Aena-run commercial airport handling scheduled and charter services, including seasonal and year-round routes operated by carriers such as Ryanair, Jet2.com, TUI, Wizz Air, Transavia, Smartwings, Enter Air and Air Arabia. The airport has been recognised by Airports Council International with awards for Best Airport in Europe in its category and for being among the cleanest European airports.