Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Zaragoza Airport (LEZG) is a joint military-civil aerodrome in Aragon, northern Spain, some 16 km west of the city of Zaragoza, and is one of the country's principal cargo hubs. It sits on the site of a former Cold War-era USAF base and retains two long hard-surfaced runways more than adequate for the wide-body freighters and NASA Space Shuttle contingency landings it was once built to accommodate.
Zaragoza Airport is a large, dual-use aerodrome serving the city of Zaragoza in Aragon, Spain, functioning simultaneously as a busy international cargo hub, a scheduled passenger airport, and Zaragoza Air Base, home to the Spanish Air and Space Force's 15th Group. For a visiting VFR pilot the field is notable for its exceptionally long runways, a legacy of its Cold War military heritage, and for the mix of heavy cargo jets, airline traffic and military movements that share the airspace.
The airport lies about 16 km west of the centre of Zaragoza, roughly 270 km west of Barcelona and 262 km northeast of Madrid. As a combined military and civil facility it sits within controlled airspace associated with the Zaragoza Air Base and the commercial airport, and pilots should expect to operate under a full air traffic service given the mix of airline, cargo and military traffic.
Zaragoza has two parallel hard-surfaced runways, both lit. The main runway, 12R/30L, is 12,131 ft in the 12R direction and 12,102 ft in the 30L direction. The secondary runway, 12L/30R, measures 9,881 ft as 12L and 9,858 ft as 30R. Field elevation is 860 ft.
Approach control is available on 119.3 MHz. Ground and Tower services both operate on 118.1 MHz. The field has no ILS.
Zaragoza's runways trace back to the enlargement of an existing Spanish Air Force base beginning in September 1954, when United States Navy engineers upgraded the facility for use as a war standby base during the Cold War. The first American project strengthened the existing 9,921 ft runway and added 1,000 ft overruns at each end; work then began in 1956 on a new 200 ft by 12,200 ft concrete runway, completed in 1958. Zaragoza was one of three major USAF Cold War airbases in Spain, alongside Torrejon Air Base near Madrid and Moron Air Base near Seville. Its long runway and favourable weather later saw it designated by NASA as a contingency Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) site for the Space Shuttle, aided by a military-grade TACAN navigation system adapted for the shuttle's guidance requirements. The base remains active today as home to the Spanish Air and Space Force's 15th Group.
Zaragoza continues to operate as a joint military and civil airport, hosting the Spanish Air and Space Force's 15th Group alongside scheduled passenger services from carriers including Ryanair, Wizz Air, Vueling, Binter Canarias and Volotea, and a substantial roster of international cargo operators such as Atlas Air, Cargolux, Qatar Airways Cargo and Ethiopian Cargo, reflecting its role as one of Spain's principal cargo hubs.