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History
The airport was first established as a temporary military airport during the Spanish Civil War, and remained open after the conflict for use as an emergency airport.
In 1949 the site was used to operate some domestic and international tourist flights, but was then closed in 1951.
It was not until 1958 that work commenced to re-open the airport in reaction to the rapid development of the tourist market in the Balearic Islands, particularly in neighbouring Majorca. The airport was reopened on 1 April 1958 with the first destinations during that year including Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid.
The airport was expanded progressively over the subsequent decades with runway, taxiway, apron and terminal enhancements designed to cope with the growing air tourist market which by the late 1990s was generating over 3.5 million passengers a year at the airport.
In 2008 the airport handled 4,647,487 passengers and 57,235 aircraft movements, a respective 2.5% and 1.1% decline compared to 2007
Airlines and destinations
- Air Berlin (Berlin-Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Münster/Osnabrück, Munich, Nuremberg, Paderborn/Lippstadt, Palma de Mallorca, Zurich)
- Air Europa (Barcelona, Bilbao [begins 2 July], Madrid)
- Aer Lingus (Dublin) [seasonal]
- Blu-express (Rome-Fiumicino)
- British Airways (London-Gatwick)
- Clickair (Barcelona)
- Condor Airlines (Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart) [seasonal]
- EasyJet (Belfast-International [begins 27 June], Berlin-Schönefeld [begins 20 June], Bilbao [begins 22 June], Bristol [begins 11 July], East Midlands [begins 18 July], Geneva, Glasgow-International [begins 23 June], Liverpool [begins 10 July], London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Lyon [begins 12 July], Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Newcastle [begins 11 July], Paris-Charles de Gaulle [begins 11 July])
- Flybaboo (Geneva) [seasonal]
- Flyglobespan (Aberdeen [begins 28 June], Edinburgh [begins 28 June], Glasgow-International) [seasonal]
- Germanwings (Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart) [seasonal]
- Hamburg International (Leipzig/Halle, Saarbrücken)
- Iberia (Madrid) operated by Air Nostrum (Alicante, Bilbao [begins 24 July], Málaga, Minorca, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Orly, Seville [begins 24 July], Valencia)
- Jet2.com (Belfast-International, Blackpool, Edinburgh, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle)
- Luxair (Luxembourg [seasonal])
- Monarch Airlines (Birmingham, London-Gatwick, Manchester)
- MyAir (Bologna [begins 21 June], Milan-Orio al Serio [begins 19 June], Venice-Marco Polo [begins 19 June])
- Neos (Milan-Malpensa, Milan-Orio al Serio, Venice-Treviso, Verona)
- Niki (Graz, Salzburg, Vienna)
- Norwegian Air Shuttle (Oslo-Gardermoen) [begins 20 June]
- Ryanair (Bologna, East Midlands, Girona, Liverpool, London-Stansted, Milan-Orio al Serio, Pisa, Rome-Ciampino, Weeze [begins 7 July])
- Smart Wings (Prague) [seasonal]
- Spanair (Barcelona, Madrid)
- Sun d'Or International Airlines (Tel Aviv) [seasonal]
- Thomas Cook Airlines (Aberdeen, Belfast-International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield, East Midlands, Glasgow-International, Leeds/Bradford, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle)
- Thomson Airways (Belfast-International, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Doncaster/Sheffield, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow-International, Leeds/Bradford, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich)
- Transavia.com (Amsterdam)
- Vueling Airlines (Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino [begins 1 July], Seville, Valencia)
