The Canary Archipelago lies in the Atlantic Ocean, quite far from the coast of Spain to which it belongs. Naturally, the main form of communication between it and mainland Europe in our century of space exploration is air transport.
The Canary Islands is a popular tourist destination that does not know the concept of “low season”. But where do travelers land, at which airport? Canary Islands is an archipelago. It includes seven fairly large land areas, not counting small rocks. The main island in the archipelago is Gran Canaria. Naturally, this is where the international airport is located. It is called plain and simple - Gran Canaria. So passengers immediately know which island they landed on. But this is not the only airport in the archipelago. Read how to fly to the Canaries and travel between the islands in an article.
Gran Canaria Airport
We begin our review of the air harbors of the archipelago with the main one. This airport has international status and accepts flights from many countries, including Russia. But that is not all. The main harbor of Gran Canaria occupies the fifth place of honor in passenger traffic among the airports of Spain (after the capital, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga). It is located on the eastern tip of the island of the same name, near the very shore of the ocean. If you fly with Aeroflot, then most likely you will land at this airport.
Canary Islands have two capitals. Every four years, the title of the main city passes to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, then to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This last resort is located just twenty kilometers north of the airport. The hub is not only a haven for civil aviation. It also houses the Spanish air force base. And one of the airport lanes is even capable of receiving the NASA shuttle during an emergency landing. The harbor terminal is connected by bus to the city. Registration of passengers traveling abroad begins 2 or two and a half hours before departure.
South Airport
The largest island of the archipelago is called Tenerife. It is very popular with tourists. Therefore, it has two international airports - on the northern and southern ends of the island. The largest of them is the second. Previously, it was named after Queen Sofia, who in November 1978 solemnly cut the red ribbon at its opening.
Now the annual passenger flow of this large transport hub is about seven and a half million. South Airport is located in Granadilla de Abona, sixty-one kilometers from the main city of Tenerife. If you are flying from Sheremetyevo or St. Petersburg, then land in Yuzhny.
Los rodeos
Now this hub is officially called the Northern Airport. ” The Canary Islands have a busy transport connection by air. Of course, Severny Airport, like Yuzhny, has international status. Airplanes to Europe and South America will start from it. But the busiest route (forty flights per day) is Tenerife - Gran Canaria.
It should be noted the convenient location of the North Airport. Los Rodeos is a couple of kilometers from the main city of the island and sometimes the capital of the entire Santa Cruz de Tenerife archipelago. The harbor passes over four million passengers every year.
Fuerteventura
Only some flights from Western European countries are accepted by this international airport. The Canary Islands in the 50-60s of the last century experienced a tourist boom. He is not declining even now. But the popularity of Fuerteventura has led to the construction of an airport on the third largest island of the archipelago. The location of the air harbor is very convenient - five kilometers from the city of Puerto del Rosario. Basically, this hub serves flights between the islands.
Other airports in Canary
Residents of the archipelago prefer air transport to sea. Therefore, all the more or less important islands have airports. Even the tiny Hierro has his own hub. For its small size it is called the “Crabs Airport”. Its capacity is one hundred and seventy with a few thousand passengers. The most popular flights are to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and La Palma.
La Gomera is another small archipelago airport. It is located on the island of the same name near the village of Alahero, thirty-five kilometers from the main city. The hub consists of one terminal and accepts only domestic flights. La Palma is located on a piece of land of the same name and eight kilometers south of the main city of Santa Cruz. With the modest size of the harbor, its passenger flow is one million sixty seven thousand people annually. It accepts seasonal charters, and more recently, regular flights from Europe. The largest of the smallest airports in the archipelago is Lanzarote. It is located five kilometers from Arrecife. The airport serves five million travelers annually. Recently, the old terminal of this air harbor has turned into an entertaining Aviation Museum.