João Paulo II Airport

Ponta Delgada - João Paulo II Airport (IATA: PDL, ICAO: LPPD), named after Pope John Paul II, is an international airport located on the island of São Miguel, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. Situated 2 km (1.2 mi) west of the city centre of Ponta Delgada, it is the primary (and busiest) airport in the Azores, as well as the fifth largest infrastructure managed by ANA Aeroportos de Portugal. The terminal was finished in 1995; by 2005 the airport served a total of 873,500 passengers.[1] It has scheduled domestic flights to all islands of the Azores, plus Madeira and the mainland, namely (Lisbon, Porto and Faro). João Paulo II Airport also accommodates international flights to and from Europe and North America. The airport is the major hub for the SATA Group of airlines, which includes both inter-island SATA Air Açores and international Azores Airlines,[2] and since April 2015 as a base for Ryanair.[3]

Ponta Delgada-João Paulo II Airport

Aeroporto João Paulo II
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGovernment of Portugal
OperatorANA Aeroportos de Portugal
ServesPonta Delgada
LocationRelva
Elevation AMSL79 m / 259 ft
Coordinates37°44′31″N 025°41′52″W
Websiteana.pt
Map
LPPD
Location of Ponta Delgada-Joao Paulo II in the archipelago of the Azores
LPPD
LPPD (North Atlantic)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 2,497 8,192 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Passengers1,904,310
Passengers change 17-183.0%
Aircraft Movements22,685
Movements change 17-180.6%
Sources: ANAC, Portuguese AIP[1]
ANA
Landing strip of the airport with the Atlantic at the background

History

Interior of main terminal

The airport was inaugurated on 24 August 1969 by President Admiral Américo Tomás, after its construction was planned six years earlier, in 1963.[4] Transferred from Santana, at the time of its opening, the runway was 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) long and was then referred to as the Aeroporto da Nordela, owing to its location at the extreme northwest of Ponta Delgada.[4] It was built in order to serve inter-island connections and the continent, using a single Boeing 737 from the national flag carrier (TAP33).[4] Regular flights to Lisbon began two years later.[4]

In May 1995, at the inauguration of the airport terminal, the facility received the designation João Paulo II, in honour of the visit of the Pope to the Azores in 1991.

"This airport, is part of the integrated history and economic and social development of the Azores, in particular of the Micaelenses, and constitutes an relevant equipment at the service of air transport, not just of the passengers, but also the transport and mail. It is the infrastructure with the largest expression of air traffic in the autonomous region of the Azores, reaching in 2011 935,000 passengers."

Along with the airports in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Flores, Santa Maria, Horta and Beja, the airport's concessions to provide support to civil aviation was conceded to ANA Aeroportos de Portugal on 18 December 1998, under provisions of decree 404/98.[5] With this concession, ANA was also in charge of future planning, development and construction of future infrastructures.[5]

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Azores Airlines Boston, Funchal, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, New York–JFK (begins 1 June 2022),[6] Porto, Praia, Toronto–Pearson
Seasonal: Barcelona (begins 1 June 2022),[7] Bermuda,[8] Frankfurt, Montréal–Trudeau, Paris–Charles de Gaulle[9]
Binter Canarias Seasonal: Gran Canaria (begins 2 July 2022)[10]
British Airways Seasonal: London–Heathrow (begins 2 July 2022)[11]
Edelweiss Air Seasonal: Zurich (begins 11 July 2022)[12]
Iberia Seasonal: Madrid (begins 4 June 2022)[13]
Lufthansa Seasonal: Frankfurt
Ryanair Lisbon, London–Stansted, Porto
Seasonal: Manchester, Nuremberg
SATA Air Açores Flores, Graciosa, Horta, Pico, Santa Maria, São Jorge, Terceira
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: Geneva
TAP Air Portugal Lisbon
Seasonal: Porto
Transavia Seasonal: Amsterdam,[14] Paris–Orly (begins 7 July 2022),[15] Porto[16]
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels
TUI fly Netherlands Seasonal: Amsterdam
United Airlines Seasonal: Newark (begins 13 May 2022)[17]

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at PDL airport. See source Wikidata query.
Busiest routes from João Paulo II Airport Airport (2019)[18]
Rank City, airport Passengers  %
change
Top carriers
1 Lisbon 839,826 9.5% Azores Airlines, Ryanair, TAP Air Portugal
2 Porto 300,426 8.3% Azores Airlines, Ryanair
3 Terceira 185,246 1.4% SATA Air Açores
4 Boston 111,950 11.5% Azores Airlines, TAP Air Portugal
5 Santa Maria 82,431 5.1% SATA Air Açores
6 Horta 79,464 6.6% SATA Air Açores
7 Toronto-Pearson 75,763 0.5% Azores Airlines, TAP Air Portugal
8 Pico 72,454 7.1% SATA Air Açores
9 Funchal 46,221 15.4% Azores Airlines
10 Flores 40,540 11.6% SATA Air Açores

Incidents

See also

References

Notes
  1. AIP Part 3 - AD 2 Aerodromes Archived 15 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. SATA Press Kit (2009), p.8
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Fátima Cerqueira Dias (2010)
  5. ANA Aeroportos: Relatório de Gestão e Contas (2011) (PDF), Lisbon, Portugal: ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, SA, 2011, p. 1115, archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2014, retrieved 2 January 2014
  6. "New Routes". Azores Airlines.
  7. "Azores Airlines".
  8. McWhirter, Fiona (9 January 2021). "Details on flights to and from the Azores". The Royal Gazette. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  9. "SATA reliera Ponta Delgada à Paris et Londres Air Journal". 9 December 2020.
  10. https://www.bintercanarias.com/corporativo/noticias/8902/binter-empieza-a-volar-en-julio-a-cinco-nuevos-destinos-internacionales-y-nacionales
  11. https://simpleflying.com/british-airways-portugal-perfect-flight/
  12. https://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/wirtschaft/airline-baut-die-edelweiss-ihre-langstrecken-flotte-wieder-aus-das-steckt-hinter-den-geruechten-um-neue-flugzeuge-ld.2267226
  13. https://www.aviacionline.com/2022/04/iberia-to-increase-its-presence-in-portugal-during-the-summer/
  14. "Routes In Brief: November's Rolling Daily Updates". Routes Online. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  15. "Transavia : 61 avions et 8 nouvelles lignes pour l'été 2022".
  16. "Transavia anuncia nova rota entre Porto e Ponta Delgada".
  17. https://www.united.com/en-us/new-routes
  18. "Eurostat Data Explorer". Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  19. "Accident: Delta B752 at Ponta Delgada on Aug 18th 2019, hard touch down causes creases in fuselage".
Sources
  • Dias, Fátima Cerqueira (2010), O Aeroporto de Ponta Delgada - João Paulo II, 40 anos de História (in Portuguese), Ponta Delgada (Azores), Portugal

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