Reus Airport

Reus Airport Aeroport de Reus
IATA: REU – ICAO: LERS REU Location of airport in Catalonia
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Aena
Serves	Reus, Spain
Elevation AMSL	71 m / 233 ft
Coordinates
Website	www.aena.es
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 07/25 2,459 8,068 Asphalt
Statistics (2013)
Passengers 971,166 Passenger change 12-13 3.6% Aircraft movements 16,977 Movements change 12-13 5.4%
Source: AENA

Reus Airport (IATA: REU, ICAO: LERS) is located by the beaches of Costa Daurada, equidistant in relation to the town of Constantí and the city of Reus and approximately 7.5 km (4.7 mi) from the city of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain.

The airport receives a large amount of tourist traffic from passengers destined for the beach resorts of Salou and Cambrils as well as for Barcelona, which is approximately 100 km (62 mi) to the northeast. It is also close to one of Europe's largest theme parks, PortAventura. In addition, passengers travel to the Mountains of Prades, a Mediterranean forest in the comarca of Baix Camp.

History

Early years

The airport was founded in 1935 as a venture by the Auroclub de Reus. It served as a Republican base during the Spanish Civil War and after the fascist victory served as a Spanish Air Force base.

The base was demilitarised in the early 1990s and became a fully civilian airport administered by AENA, the Spanish airports authority.

Development since the 2000s

The airport is a Ryanair base since October 2008 although for the winter 2009–2010 season Ryanair reduced the number of flights and destinations from Reus by a substantial amount. This reduction was only temporary for the winter months and a full flight programme recommenced late March 2010.

On 29 June 2011 Ryanair announced that their base would close on 30 October with the loss of 28 routes after failing to reach an agreement with the local Government. Ryanair resumed some flights in March 2012, but they are operated by aircraft not based at Reus.

Terminal

In order to adapt Reus Airport to future air traffic demand, Aena Aeropuertos has carried out a series of improvements and extended its facilities. These include a new check-in building between the arrivals and departures buildings, integrating the three buildings into one. The departures building has also been remodelled for use as a boarding area. The new departures terminal has 23 check-in desks and 12 boarding gates spread over two rooms: gates 1 to 6 are intended for Non-Schengen flights, and 7 to 12 are dedicated to Schengen destinations. The public area and the passenger only zone have cafeteria and restaurant services and duty-free shops.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
ASL Airlines Ireland	Seasonal charter: Cork, Dublin, Shannon
Jet2.com	Seasonal: Belfast–International, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow–International, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
Jetairfly	Seasonal: Brussels
Orbest	Seasonal charter: Porto
Ryanair	Eindhoven, London–Stansted Seasonal: Bristol, Charleroi, Cork, Dublin, Hahn, Liverpool, Prestwick
Thomas Cook Airlines	Seasonal charter: Aberdeen, Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow–International, London–Gatwick, London-Stansted (begins 24 July 2016), Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
Thomas Cook Airlines operated by British Airways	London-Stansted (resumes 24 July 2016)
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium	Seasonal charter: Brussels
Thomson Airways	Seasonal: Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield, Glasgow–International, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
Ural Airlines	Seasonal charter: Moscow–Domodedovo

Statistics

Check-in area

A recent influx of flights has led to a dramatic increase in passenger numbers at the airport. In 1995, approximately 500,000 passengers passed through the airport. In 2004 this number more than doubled to 1.1 million and in 2009 the airport reached a peak of 1.7 million. By 2014 this had dropped to 850,000 passengers.

Incidents and accidents

• On 20 July 1970, a Condor Boeing 737-100 (registered D-ABEL) which was approaching Reus Airport, collided with a privately owned Piper Cherokee light aircraft (registration EC-BRU) near Tarragona, Spain. The Piper subsequently crashed, resulting in the death of the three persons on board. The Condor Boeing suffered only minor damage, and there were no injuries amongst the 95 passengers and 5 crew members.

• In 1996, two powerful bombs placed by the Basque group Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) in the airport left more than 30 people injured. That same day two other bombs exploded in two hotels located near the airport.

• In 2004 a Swearingen Metro aircraft was to be repositioned to Barcelona Airport for maintenance work, but during takeoff, while accelerating 80 knots, the nose gear collapsed. The aircraft sustained serious damage to the fuselage, engines and the propellers.

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website