Lleida–Alguaire Airport (IATA: ILD, ICAO: LEDA) (Catalan: Aeroport de Lleida-Alguaire, Spanish: Aeropuerto de Lérida-Alguaire) is an airport located in Alguaire, Catalonia, Spain; about 15 km (9.3 mi) from the centre of Lleida and about 150 km (93 mi) from the centre of Barcelona.
History
Lleida–Alguaire was designed as a regional airport to provide both passenger and cargo transport to Western Catalonia (the Ponent region and Catalan Pyrenees), Andorra and some counties (comarques) in La Franja.[2] The airport construction project had a budget of 130 million euro and it was the first airport built and owned by the Generalitat of Catalonia, via its public-capital company Aeroports de Catalunya. It is also one of the few Spanish airports not owned by Aena.
The original plan intended for the full redevelopment of the already existing Alfés aerodrome located south of Lleida but due to pressure from ecologist groups this plan never materialised. It was later decided to locate the airport north of the city next to the future A-14 highway because of its convenience. Together the airport and the highway, which ends abruptly a few kilometres north of the airport, have caused endless amounts of controversy over the years as locals consider both projects as fake promises and embezzlement of public funds.
The airport was inaugurated on the 17 of January 2010 with the arrival of an Airbus A320 from Barcelona operated by Vueling, onboard traveled members of the Catalan authorities and the press.
Since then, following the success from other spanish airports like Teruel Airport, Lleida-Alguaire has been working to position itself as an aircraft maintenance and aircraft storage facility, as well as cooperating with both public and private research projects. In recent years, the airport has also gained popularity as a flight training location.
