João Paulo II Airport
João Paulo II Airport
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; with the construction of
the terminal in 1995, by 2005 the airport served a total of 873,500 passengers.
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, and since April 2015 as a base for Ryanair.
History
Landing strip of the airport with
the Atlantic at the background
The airport was inaugurated on 24
August 1969 by President Admiral Américo Tomás, after its construction was
planned six years earlier, in 1963. 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. It was built in order to serve inter-island connections and
the continent, using a single Boeing 737 from the national flag carrier
(TAP33). Yet, it was only two years later that first regular flights to Lisbon
were initiated.
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 a 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. With this concession, ANA was also provided to
the planning, development and construction of future infrastructures.
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