Las Palmas Airport

...that for a small island Las Palmas airport isn't half bad!

Las Palmas airport was built in the 1930's and belongs to the Aena Airport group, which also has airports throughout Spain and Portugal. It's been voted the top airport of all the Canary Islands in light of passenger traffic, cargo and aircraft movements. It also operates 24 hours a day all year round and has been voted one of the safest airports in the EU. There are actually ...
...Location **

Las Palmas airport is located in the North East of the island of Gran Canaria. The nearest city is that of Las Palmas, the capital, which is just over 11 miles away while the more tourist resorts of Playa del Ingles, Maspalomas and Puerto Rico are on the south coast of the island. However due to the size of the island the majority of towns in Gran Canaria are accessible within about forty minutes from the airport. It's ... more

During my June trip to Gran Canaria I had the "pleasure" of being delayed within the airport for 5 hours which gave me plenty of time to fully note and evaluate all the amenities within it - therefore I feel a bit of an expert on this topic thanks to First Choice! In my vast experience of airports - from little more than a shack on the island of Zante to the posh heights of JFK in America - I'd have to say that for a small island Las Palmas airport isn't half bad!

Las Palmas airport was built in the 1930's and belongs to the Aena Airport group, which also has airports throughout Spain and Portugal. It's been voted the top airport of all the Canary Islands in light of passenger traffic, cargo and aircraft movements. It also operates 24 hours a day all year round and has been voted one of the safest airports in the EU. There are actually 2 runways belonging to this airport although only 1 is in full usage.

** Location **

Las Palmas airport is located in the North East of the island of Gran Canaria. The nearest city is that of Las Palmas, the capital, which is just over 11 miles away while the more tourist resorts of Playa del Ingles, Maspalomas and Puerto Rico are on the south coast of the island. However due to the size of the island the majority of towns in Gran Canaria are accessible within about forty minutes from the airport. It's also located about 2 minutes from the main… oh and only motorway on the island!

** Arrivals **

As with quite a few foreign airports located on smaller islands you'll find that you actually have to leave the safety of your plane and walk straight onto the runway! A somewhat scary experience but at least you get your first breaths of foreign air right away! However Las Palmas airport wasn't as terrible as some airports where you literally have to walk along the runway to the airport, small buses drive right up to the plane to deliver you into the actual airport.

The airport arrivals are on the ground floor and are divided into three zones - A for EU, B for Non-EU and C for inter-island (Lanzarote, Tenerife, Fueteventura) arrivals. Therefore there's three actual arrivals halls which each contain the following facilities…

As you enter the airport arrival hall there's multiple monitors that inform you of your luggage location. We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly the luggage actually came through - after only a ten minute wait but that's probably due to the fact there's only one plane landing at once which then has to move off the runway before another one can land. Once you've located your luggage you simply walk about 2 minutes down the airport where you'll find yourselves in the exit hall, which contains all the car rental booths (including Avis, Hertz and Europcar which can all be booked before you travel), travel agent booths and a café for drinks and snacks.

** Departures **

Obviously this is the area in which passengers spend the majority of their time, very rarely are you unfortunate enough to be delayed in arrivals! Departures operate from the upper floor of the airport and again are split into three zones that correspond to the ones in airport arrivals. As you enter the various departures hall there's check in desks immediately in front of you which are pretty bog standard and allow you to check in your luggage and obtain your boarding passes. There's 86 check in desks in total, 52 of which are for EU flights so it's normally a quick process of checking in!

Once you've checked in and passed through security you can move into the boarding area which also houses the shops and restaurants of the airport. The first thing that shocked me was that the actual shops were right next to the boarding gate, quite different from English airports where they are kept separate. Within the EU flights there was a fairly good selection of customer facilities for an airport of this scale. (Please note the following facilities were all located in Zone A - the much larger of the 3 zones).

There were a couple of the typical Air Zone shops which sell foods and drink to actually take home, as well as a couple of large duty free shops selling perfume, alcohol and make up. In addition there was a jewellery shop selling local goods as well as more high street brands, a sportswear shop, a pharmacy, a toy shop, a home furnishings shop (if you could get a chair on a plane that is!), a designer clothing shop, a newsagents & book store and a couple of others too.

In the way of eateries there was your usual selection of vastly overpriced outlets including a Burger King (which charged 11 Euros for a meal - roughly £7), a Air Zone café, a small Italian Café Ritazza, a Café Select, a Deli, a Sky Bar, an Upper Crust and a Cerveceria La Tropical offering alcoholic beverages! There were also multiple toilets located along the departures area containing baby changing facilities too. For the kiddies there was a fairly large indoor play area located at one end of the zone.

Throughout the departure zone there were multiple seating areas (obviously positioned there for the unfortunate ones that were delayed) and can I just point out that sat on one of these seats for 3 hours is not a pleasant experience! (Just in case any airport officials ever read this!)

** Information **

There is one central information booth just as you enter the departure zone, which is manned by 4 people so you rarely need to queue to speak to someone. Here they offered us a map to inform us of the airport facilities but be warned, the lady we spoke to didn't really speak English, which made it quite hard to communicate with her about our delay.

** Security **

Security within airports has never really been an issue to me although in the past couple of months we've seen it increase greatly. However this was one thing I felt the airport was lacking - there were a couple of security guards positioned at the security pass where you had to walk through to enter departures but apart from that I didn't see one other guard or police officer during the whole duration of my stay in the airport!

** Transport **

If you're lucky enough to have a car to take to the airport then you'll be pleased to know there's ample parking there with almost 2000 spaces available. It's just over a euro to leave your car there for an hour or eight euros for a whole day - a lot cheaper than English airports I think you'll find!

However if you're like the majority of holiday makers you'll either be looking for a transfer coach or a taxi. The former are located just outside of arrivals with enough bays for 20 coaches meaning you don't have to walk far at all. As for taxis then you're also in luck as there's a full taxi rank just outside the arrivals gate where there's always plenty of taxis to get you to your holiday destination.

** Conclusion **

All in all my five-hour stay in Las Palmas airport wasn't on the whole unpleasant. The airport is spotless which is always important to me and has a good selection of facilities for the size of it. One wall of the departures zone is completely glass which means you can see the runway and all the planes taking off which is quite pleasant to watch - although not for 5 hours! All in all I'd have to give it four out of five - sadly it looses a point for those god-awful chairs they have in there!

Thanks for reading!
 

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