João Paulo II Airport

For the airport in Kraków, see Kraków John Paul II International Airport.

Ponta Delgada
João Paulo II Airport

Aeroporto João Paulo II
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerVinci Group
OperatorANA Aeroportos de Portugal
ServesPonta Delgada
LocationRelva
Elevation AMSL79 m / 259 ft
Coordinates37°44′31″N 025°41′52″W / 37.74194°N 25.69778°W / 37.74194; -25.69778
Websiteana.pt
Map
LPPD is located in Azores
LPPD
LPPD
Location of Ponta Delgada-Joao Paulo II in the archipelago of the Azores
LPPD is located in North Atlantic
LPPD
LPPD
LPPD (North Atlantic)
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 2,497 8,192 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Passengers1,904,310
Passengers change 17-18Increase3.0%
Aircraft Movements22,685
Movements change 17-18Decrease0.6%
Sources: ANAC[1], Portuguese AIP[1]
ANA
Landing strip of the airport with the Atlantic at the background

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 kilometres (1.2 miles; 1.1 nautical miles) 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]

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

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Ponta Delgada Airport:

AirlinesDestinations
Azores Airlines Boston,[6] Faro,[7] Funchal, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, Milan–Malpensa,[7] Montréal–Trudeau,[7] New York–JFK,[8] Paris–Charles de Gaulle,[9] Porto, Praia, Toronto–Pearson[6]
Seasonal: Barcelona,[10] Bermuda,[11] Bilbao,[12] Frankfurt, London–Gatwick[13]
Binter Canarias Seasonal: Gran Canaria[14]
British Airways Seasonal: London–Heathrow[15]
Edelweiss Air Seasonal: Zurich[16]
Iberia Seasonal: Madrid[17]
Lufthansa Seasonal: Frankfurt
Ryanair Lisbon, Porto
Seasonal: Charleroi,[18][19] London–Stansted
SATA Air Açores Corvo, Flores, Graciosa, Horta, Pico, Santa Maria, São Jorge, Terceira
Smartwings Seasonal: Prague[20]
TAP Air Portugal Lisbon
Seasonal: Porto
Transavia Seasonal: Amsterdam,[21] Paris–Orly,[22] Porto[23]
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels
TUI fly Netherlands Seasonal: Amsterdam
United Airlines Seasonal: Newark[24]

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at PDL airport. See Wikidata query.
Busiest routes from João Paulo II Airport (2019)[25]
Rank City, airport Passengers %
change
 Top carriers
1 Lisbon 839,826 Increase 9.5% Azores Airlines, Ryanair, TAP Air Portugal
2 Porto 300,426 Increase 8.3% Azores Airlines, Ryanair
3 Terceira 185,246 Increase 1.4% SATA Air Açores
4 Boston 111,950 Increase 11.5% Azores Airlines, TAP Air Portugal
5 Santa Maria 82,431 Increase 5.1% SATA Air Açores
6 Horta 79,464 Increase 6.6% SATA Air Açores
7 Toronto–Pearson 75,763 Decrease 0.5% Azores Airlines, TAP Air Portugal
8 Pico 72,454 Increase 7.1% SATA Air Açores
9 Funchal 46,221 Increase 15.4% Azores Airlines
10 Flores 40,540 Increase 11.6% SATA Air Açores

Incidents

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b AIP Part 3 - AD 2 Aerodromes Archived 15 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ SATA Press Kit. 2009. p. 8.
  3. ^ "Welcome to Ryanair!". Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d Fátima Cerqueira Dias (2010)
  5. ^ a b 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. ^ a b "Azores Airlines Expands Funchal – North America Routes in NS24". www.aeroroutes.com. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  7. ^ a b c "Azores Airlines Expands Ponta Delgada NW24 Network". aeroroutes.com. 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  8. ^ "New Routes". Azores Airlines.
  9. ^ "SATA reliera Ponta Delgada à Paris et Londres Air Journal". www.air-journal.fr. 9 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Azores Airlines". Azores Airlines.
  11. ^ McWhirter, Fiona (9 January 2021). "Details on flights to and from the Azores". The Royal Gazette. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Azores Airlines Adds Bilbao Service in 3Q23". www.aeroroutes.com.
  13. ^ "AZORES AIRLINES SCHEDULES PONTA DELGADA – LONDON GATWICK ROUTE IN NS24".
  14. ^ "Noticias". Binter Canarias.
  15. ^ "New Route of the Day (2 July 2022): British Airways between London LHR and Ponta Delgada". 7 July 2022.
  16. ^ "Edelweiss bald wieder mit mehr Langstrecken-Flügen?". 29 March 2022.
  17. ^ "Iberia to increase its presence in Portugal during the summer". Avianca. 29 April 2022.
  18. ^ "Flugplan".
  19. ^ "Ryanair NS24 Network Additions Summary – 14JUL24".
  20. ^ "Smartwings nabídnou příští léto linku z Prahy na Azorské ostrovy | Airways.cz". www.airways.cz. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  21. ^ "Routes In Brief: November's Rolling Daily Updates". Routes Online. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  22. ^ "Transavia : 61 avions et 8 nouvelles lignes pour l'été 2022".
  23. ^ "Transavia anuncia nova rota entre Porto e Ponta Delgada". 17 December 2021.
  24. ^ Da Silva, Lurdes C. (14 October 2021). "United Airlines to add Newark/Ponta Delgada route in 2022". The Herald News.
  25. ^ "Eurostat Data Explorer". Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  26. ^ "Accident: Delta B752 at Ponta Delgada on Aug 18th 2019, hard touch down causes creases in fuselage". The Aviation Herald.
Sources
  • Dias, Fátima Cerqueira (2010), O Aeroporto de Ponta Delgada - João Paulo II, 40 anos de História (in Portuguese), Ponta Delgada (Azores), Portugal{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Media related to Ponta Delgada-João Paulo II International Airport at Wikimedia Commons