Santander Airport

Santander Airport
Aeropuerto Seve Ballesteros - Santander
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorAENA
LocationMaliaño, Camargo, Cantabria, Spain
Elevation AMSL16 ft (4.9 m)
Coordinates43°25′37″N 03°49′12″W / 43.42694°N 3.82000°W / 43.42694; -3.82000
Websiteaena-aeropuertos.es
Map
SDR is located in Spain
SDR
SDR
Location within Spain
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
11/29 7,939 2,420 Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers1,174,896
Passenger change 18-19Increase 6.5%
Movements11,236
Movements change 18-19Decrease 0.2%
Sources: Passenger Traffic, AENA[1]
Spanish AIP, AENA

Santander Airport (IATA: SDR, ICAO: LEXJ), officially Seve Ballesteros–Santander Airport, is an international airport near Santander, Spain and the only airport in Cantabria. In 2018 the airport handled 1,103,353 passengers and 11,258 flights, far more than in 1995 when it handled only 180,000 passengers. Since then, the traffic has declined following the trend in Spanish airports and the decrease in operations by some of the companies.

Runway

The airport has a single runway, runway 11/29, with a length of 2,420 m / 7,612 ft. Runway 29 ends about 20 meters next to the Bay of Santander and runway 11 ends about 150 meters from the highway S-10 and a shopping center. Since 2021, there is a precision approach lighting system at runway 29.

Name

Entrance to the passenger terminal
Airport control tower and fire station.
Airport parking apron.

The airport is named after the famous golf player Seve Ballesteros, born in Pedreña, a few kilometres from the airport and being one of the most well known public figures of Cantabria in the last century. The airport was known as 'Santander Airport' until 2015. In May 2014, a popular initiative taken to the Parliament of Cantabria was unanimously approved to change the name after Ballesteros. The Spanish government approved the change on 16 April 2015.[2]

History

Foundation and early years

The current airport, built on ground reclaimed from the Bay of Santander, was opened to traffic in 1977. A smaller airfield was built on the location between 1947 and 1952 by prisoners of the Spanish Civil War. It opened in 1953, replacing the old Santander airport located in La Albericia, which received commercial flights since 1949, and received the name of Aeropuerto de Santander and popularly known as "Parayas". It received the international rating in 1957.

After a three-year closure (from April 1974 until 8 August 1977), in which the airport underwent a major renovation that significantly expanded its facilities and had a cost of more than 1,100 million pesetas of the time; it was reopened with a new 2,400 m runway and with the technology to allow both visual and instrumental flight; the first flight after the renovation corresponded to the Iberia's DC-9 "Ciudad de Santander", that covered the Barcelona-Santander-Santiago de Compostela route.[3]

Development since 2000

Until 2003, the premises were considered underused due to the limited number of flights and their high fees, which made a shift in potential passengers to the airport of Bilbao, 100 km away. From this date, following an agreement signed between the Government of Cantabria and the budget airline Ryanair, the airport experimented an increase in the number of destinations (national and international), passengers and airlines operating. In 2005, the airport reached 644,662 passengers, growing by 88% over the previous year and having a user balance between domestic and international flights. This increase was the largest proportion of all airports in Spain in that year.[4]

From 2007, there have been new renovation works, that started in 2007, remodeling and expanding the terminal and installing two gateways or fingers for direct access to the planes, widening the platform for parking more aircraft or construction of taxiways and a platform for general aviation.[5]

In December 2010, 37.8 million euro was invested for the upgrading of the facilities, preparing the airport to handle an annual traffic of over two million passengers a year. The works included the remodeling of the terminal building of 10,200 square meters, expanding new areas of departures and arrivals as well as the construction of a taxiway that can handle 22 movements per hour, and the extension of the aircraft parking platform.[6]

Facilities

After the implementation of the renovations referred to in the airport master plan, today it has 8 check-in desks, 3 baggage carousels in the arrivals lounge and 7 boarding gates. As an international airport, it is also capable of handling flights from countries outside the Schengen zone.[7]

Airlines and destinations

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

AirlinesDestinations
Binter Canarias Gran Canaria,[8] Tenerife–North[9]
Seasonal: Lanzarote[10]
Iberia Madrid[11]
Seasonal: Almería,[12] Jerez de la Frontera,[13] Vigo[14]
Ryanair Brussels Charleroi,[15] Dublin,[16] Edinburgh,[17] London–Stansted,[18] Marrakech[19]
Seasonal: Birmingham,[20] Bologna,[21] Manchester,[18] Venice Treviso[22]
Volotea Granada,[23] Madrid (begins 6 November 2026),[24] Málaga,[25] Seville,[26] Valencia[27]
Seasonal: Menorca[28]
Vueling Barcelona,[29] Paris Orly[30]
Seasonal: Alicante,[31] Ibiza,[32] Palma de Mallorca[33]
Wizz Air Bucharest–Otopeni,[34] Milan–Malpensa (begins 15 September 2026),[35] Valencia (begins 3 November 2026)[36]
Seasonal: Sofia,[37] Tirana[38]

Statistics

Traffic per year[39]

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
260,767 (+16.1%) 29th 272,383 (+4.5%) 28th 262,070 (-3.8%) 29th 253,756 (-3.2%) 29th 342,559 (+35.0%) 28th 644,662 (+88.1%) 27th 649,447 (+0.7%) 27th 761,780 (+17.3%) 27th 856,606 (+12.4%) 27th 958,157 (+11.9%) 26th 918,470 (-4.1%) 26th
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
1,116,398 (+21.4%) 21st 1,117,617 (+0.1%) 20th 974,043 (-12.8%) 20th 815,636 (-16.3%) 23rd 875,920 (+7.4%) 22nd 778.318 (-11,1%) 26th 937.641 (+20,5%) 26th 1,103,353 (+17.7%) 25th 1,174,896 (+6.5%) 22nd

Busiest routes

Busiest international routes from SDR (2023)
Rank Destination Passengers Change 2023/24
1 London-Stansted 76,399 Decrease 8%
2 Charleroi 59,758 Decrease 11%
3 Rome-Fiumicino 58,528 Decrease 13%
4 Dublin 46,791 Decrease 4%
5 Edinburgh 41,269 Increase 3%
6 Marrakech 35,197 Increase 2%
7 Bergamo 33,668 Increase 1%
8 Vienna 31,524 Decrease 8%
9 Beauvais 27,641 Decrease 2%
10 Birmingham Bucharest-Otopeni 27,516 Decrease 5%
11 Manchester 26,746 Decrease 17%
12 Treviso 25,740 Increase 6%
13 Bucharest-Otopeni 23,738 Decrease 33%
14 Bologna 18,720 Increase 5%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo[40]
Busiest domestic routes from SDR (2023)
Rank Destination Passengers Change 2022/23
1 Madrid 220,289 Increase 15%
2 Barcelona 203,799 Increase 7%
3 Seville 61,524 Increase 94%
4 Málaga 53,604 Increase 30%
5 Valencia 51,685 Decrease 17%
6 Palma de Mallorca 28,125 Decrease 41%
7 Gran Canaria 22,659 Increase 15%
8 Alicante 19,200 Increase 154%
9 Tenerife-North 17,783 Increase 9%
10 Murcia 9,701 Increase 17%
11 Ibiza 4,835 Increase 1%
12 Menorca 4,797 Increase 1%
13 Jerez de la Frontera 1,590 Decrease 17%
14 Granada 1,510 Decrease 4%
15 Vigo 1,268 Decrease 12%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo[40]

Ground transport

The road access by car is from the S-10 highway, exit 3 and then taking the road N-636 that leads to the airport facilities. There is also a regular bus line from Santander's main bus station in the city centre. The line buses from ALSA also stop in the airport prior booking in the routes that connect Santander with other towns in northern Spain like Bilbao, Gijón, Oviedo or Laredo.[41][42]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.aena.es/es/aeropuerto-santander/presentacion.html . Aena.es. Retrieved on 20-02-2015.
  2. ↑ "Parayas ya se llama oficialmente 'Aeropuerto Seve Ballesteros-Santander". El Diario Montañes. 16 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Gran Enciclopedia de Cantabria. Santander: Ed. Cantabria. 1985. ISBN 978-84-86420-00-0.
  4. ↑ "Tráfico de pasajeros, operaciones y carga en los aeropuertos españoles. Año 2005". Aena.
  5. ↑ "Economía/Transportes.- AENA licita obras en el aeropuerto de Santander por más de 20 millones de euros - elEconomista.es".
  6. ↑ "El aeropuerto de Parayas estrena instalaciones". El Diario Montañes. 17 December 2010.
  7. ↑ Santander Official Airport website[link removed]. Aena.es. Retrieved on 24-10-2012.
  8. ↑ "Binter lanza una promoción para volar entre Santander y Canarias desde 64,10 euros". 9 May 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "Binter oferta vuelos a Santander y Vitoria a partir de 30,65 euros". 2 May 2022.
  10. ↑ "Confirmed by Binter: Lanzarote launches a direct, non-stop flight to Santander". AtlánticoHoy (in Spanish). 31 March 2026.
  11. ↑ "Iberia increases Portugal summer offer by 18%". 15 March 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  12. ↑ "Santander and Almería will be connected by a new air route, at least during the peak time of next summer". EuropaPress (in Spanish). 18 September 2025.
  13. ↑ "Jerez Airport will once again have connections to Santander in the summer". Diario de Jerez (in Spanish). 14 December 2025.
  14. ↑ "The Cantabrian government once again awards the Santander-Vigo summer air route to Air Nostrum". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 3 February 2026.
  15. ↑ "Huelga de Ryanair en Bruselas: cómo consultar los vuelos afectados con salida y destino a España". LaSexta (in Spanish). 14 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  16. ↑ McSorley, Anita (23 May 2026). "Ryanair launches huge sale with €19 flights to Spain and Italy". Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  17. ↑ Gaskell, Erin (19 May 2026). "Full list of delayed flights from Edinburgh Airport". News and Star. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  18. 1 2 James, Lisa (17 January 2025). "Ryanair axes flights to Spanish city". Travel Gossip - Home. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  19. ↑ "Llega esta noche a Santander un avión procedente de Marrakech, el primero de esta ruta tras el terremoto". 10 September 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  20. ↑ Whilding, Alex (18 June 2026). "Full list of flights cancelled and delayed at Birmingham Airport today". The Leader. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  21. ↑ "Ryanair Bologna, nuovi voli per l'inverno e per l'estate (con prezzi low cost): ecco dove". Il Resto del Carlino (in Italian). 27 October 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  22. ↑ "La niebla en Santander obliga a cancelar dos vuelos y desviar otros tres". 27 January 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  23. ↑ "Volotea expands with new French bases and Spanish routes". 8 February 2026. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  24. ↑ "Volotea enters the Madrid route with two weekly flights in winter and will compete with Iberia". El Diario Montañés (in Spanish). 16 June 2026.
  25. ↑ https://aviacionaldia.com/2026/01/volotea-anuncia-dos-nuevas-rutas-desde-santander-malaga-y-valencia.html
  26. ↑ "Volotea is now operating between Santander and Seville". Vive Campoo (in Spanish). 5 December 2016.
  27. ↑ https://aviacionaldia.com/en/2026/01/volotea-announces-two-new-routes-from-santander-malaga-and-valencia.html
  28. ↑ "175 passengers inaugurate the route between Menorca and Santander". Menorca Info (in Spanish). 7 July 2016.
  29. ↑ "La niebla en el aeropuerto de Santander obliga a desviar dos vuelos". 28 April 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  30. ↑ Herrera, Eva (18 December 2025). "Vueling conectará Santander con París-Orly desde marzo con dos frecuencias semanales". Ifomo Noticias 24h (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  31. ↑ "Vueling estrena 13 rutas para el verano 2026 | Caribbean News Digital" (in Spanish). 19 December 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  32. ↑ Camiolo, Marcos (23 January 2025). "Ibiza will launch a direct connection to Santander in the summer". La Voz De Ibiza (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  33. ↑ "Desviado al aeropuerto de Bilbao el vuelo Santander-Mallorca por una avería en el avión". 29 September 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  34. ↑ "Wizz Air unirá Cantabria con Bucarest todo el año desde octubre" (in European Spanish). 25 April 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  35. ↑ "Wizz Air: 11 aerei. Uno in piu' da settembre e 4 nuove rotte" (in Italian). italiavola.com. 18 May 2026.
  36. ↑ "Wizz Air accelerates in Spain: new bases in Madrid and Valencia and more domestic routes". Hosteltur (in Spanish). 8 July 2026.
  37. ↑ Veleva, Radina Milenova (31 March 2026). "Wizz Air launches new summer routes from Bulgaria's Sofia to Italy, Spain | Bulgaria Investments News | SeeNews". Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  38. ↑ "WIZZ AIR ANNOUNCES TWO NEW ROUTES FROM TIRANA TO GREECE AND SPAIN". 8 January 2026.
  39. ↑ Aena (2012-03-25). "Estadísticas - Aeropuertos" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  40. 1 2 "Inicio". aena.es. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  41. ↑ "HiCantabria - How to get from Santander Airport to City Center". HiCantabria. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  42. ↑ "Public transport - Santander Airport - Aena". Archived from the original on 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2015-02-24.

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