Madeira Airport

Infobox Airport
name = Madeira Airport
nativename = "Aeroporto da Madeira"
nativename-a =
nativename-r =

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IATA = FNC
ICAO = LPMA
type = Public
owner =
operator = Aeroportos da Madeira
city-served =
location = Santa Catarina, Santa Cruz
elevation-f = 192
elevation-m = 59
coordinates = Coord|32|41|52|N|16|46|28|W|type:airport|display=inline,title
website =
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 05/23
r1-length-f = 9,110
r1-length-m = 2,777
r1-surface = Asphalt
stat-year =
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Madeira Airport airport codes|FNC|LPMA, also known as Funchal Airport and Santa Catarina Airport, is an international airport located near Funchal, Madeira. The airport controls national and international air traffic of the island of Madeira.

The airport was opened on July 18th, 1964 with two 1,600m runways.

The airport was once infamous for its short runway which, surrounded by high mountains and the ocean, made it a tricky landing for even the most experienced of pilots. The original runway was only 1600 meters in length, but was extended by 200 meters 8 years after the TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 incident of 1977 and subsequently rebuilt in 2000, almost doubling the size of the runway, building it out over the ocean. Instead of using landfill, the extension was built on a series of 180 columns, each being about 70m tall. This airport is also considered the Kai Tak of Europe because of its runway and approach, excluding flying over a city.

For the enlargement of the new runway the Funchal Airport has won the Outstanding Structures Award, given by International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). The Outstanding Structures Award is considered to be the "Oscar" for engineering structures in Portugal. [http://www.ordemengenheiros.pt/Default.aspx?tabid=612]

Airlines and destinations

*Aer Lingus (Dublin)
*airberlin (Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Nuremberg, Zürich)
*Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
*Condor Airlines (Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Stuttgart)
*easyJet (Bristol, Lisbon [begins October 28th] , London-Gatwick, London-Stansted)
*Europe Airpost (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
*Finnair (Helsinki)
*First Choice Airways (Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands [seasonal] , Exeter, Glasgow-International [seasonal] , London-Gatwick, Manchester [seasonal] )
*Flyglobespan (Edinburgh)
*Jetairfly (Brussels [seasonal] )
*Luxair (Luxembourg)
*Niki (Vienna)
*Santa Barbara Airlines (Caracas)
*SATA Air Açores (Porto Santo)
*SATA International (Lisbon, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Ponta Delgada, Porto)
*Scandinavian Airlines (Oslo-Gardermoen) [begins November 2008]
*Sterling Airlines (Copenhagen)
*TAP Portugal (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Caracas, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, Frankfurt, Madrid, Paris-Orly, Porto)
**operated by Portugália (Lisbon, Milan-Malpensa)
*Thomsonfly (Cardiff, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, Manchester)
*Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium) (Brussels)
*Thomas Cook Airlines (Glasgow-International [seasonal] , London-Gatwick [seasonal] , Manchester)
*Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia (Billund [seasonal] , Copenhagen [seasonal] , Helsinki [seasonal] )
*transavia.com (Amsterdam, Paris-Orly)
*TUIfly (Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Stuttgart)

External links

* [http://www.aeroportosdamadeira.pt/ Madeira Airport - Official website]
* [http://www.madeiraspotters.net/ Madeira Spotting group]

References

*WAD|LPMA