Gran Canaria Airport (IATA: LPA, ICAO: GCLP) (Spanish: Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria) is a passenger and freight airport on the island of Gran Canaria. It is an important airport within the Spanish air transport network (owned and managed by a public enterprise, AENA), as it holds the sixth position in terms of passengers, and fifth in terms of operations and cargo transported. It also ranks first of the Canary Islands in all three categories, although the island of Tenerife has higher passenger numbers overall if statistics from the two airports located on the island are combined. The facility covers 553 hectares (1,370 acres) of land and contains two 3,100m runways.

The airport is located in the eastern part of Gran Canaria on the Bay of Gando (Bahía de Gando), 19 km (12 mi) to the south of Las Palmas, and 25 km (16 mi) from the popular tourist areas in the south. In 2014 it handled over 10.3 million passengers, ranking 1st in the Canary Islands and 5th in Spain by passenger traffic. Gran Canaria Airport is an important hub for passengers travelling to West Africa (Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde, among others), and to the Atlantic Isles of Madeira and the Azores. It serves as base for Binter Canarias, Canaryfly, Ryanair, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Vueling. Other airlines use it as a base to operate charter flights to Cape Verde and Gambia (TUI fly Deutschland and TUI fly Nordic), but only in the winter.

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In 1919, Frenchman Pierre George Latécoère was granted clearance from the French and Spanish governments to establish an airline route between Toulouse and Casablanca. This also included stopovers in Málaga, Alicante and Barcelona. The airport opened on 7 April 1930, after King Alfonso XIII signed a royal order announcing that the military air force installations on the Bay of Gando would become a civilian airfield. In its existence, the airport has become the largest gateway into the Canary Islands, as well as the largest in terms of passenger and cargo operations, although the island of Tenerife has higher passenger numbers overall between the two airports located on the island.

In 1946, the old passenger terminal opened, which took two years to build. In 1948, a runway was built, which was completed and fully tarmacked in 1957.

In 1963, improvements to the airport were made. This included new parking spaces, enlargement of the terminal and the provision of a visual approach slope indicator system. In 1964, a transmission station was built. In 1966 a new control tower was completed, replacing the old control tower that was constructed in 1946. In 1970, work began on the current passenger terminal which opened in March 1973. During this time, a second runway was being built and this was completed in 1980.

On 18 February 1988, Binter Canarias announced that the airline's main base was to be established at Gran Canaria. The base opened on 26 March 1989. In October 1991, the terminal was enlarged with improved facilities so it could handle more passengers.

In December 2010, low-cost carrier Ryanair announced the opening of 3 new bases on the Canary Islands. In addition to Gran Canaria these include Lanzarote and Tenerife South. Ryanair presently operates 30 routes from Gran Canaria. The airport was an official alternative (emergency) landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle, before the ending of the Space Shuttle programme in July 2011.

As of 2011, there was a programme to expand the airport, extending the terminal and creating a new runway. In 2015 this major renovation of Gran Canaria airport was completed. Among the improvements was increasing the number of baggage belts, 16 to 24, check-in counters from 96 to 132 and gates, up to 40. The new terminal area is now fully active, doubling the previous area. There is also a plan for the building of a new runway for the airport.

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The airport has one terminal which opened in March 1973. It was extended in October 1991 to increase passenger traffic. Despite being a building of historical interest, in 2013 the original passenger terminal building, opened in 1946, was demolished to make way for a further extension which opened in 2014. Although dramatically expanded over the years the airport remains a single terminal airport.

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

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Athens (begins 13 February 2025)
Aer Lingus	Dublin
airBaltic	Seasonal: Aalborg, Bergen, Billund, Copenhagen, Oslo, Riga, Sandefjord, Tallinn, Tampere, Vilnius
Air Europa	Madrid
Air Nostrum	Seasonal charter: Porto
Atlantic Airways	Seasonal: Vágar
Austrian Airlines	Vienna
Azores Airlines	Funchal, Ponta Delgada
Binter Canarias	A Coruña, Agadir, Asturias, Casablanca, Dakar–Diass, Dakhla, El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Granada, Guelmim, Laayoune, La Gomera, Lanzarote, La Palma, Madrid, Murcia, Nouadhibou, Nouakchott, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, Sal, San Sebastián, Santander, Tenerife–North, Tenerife–South, Vigo, Zaragoza Seasonal: Essaouira, Fès, Florence, Ibiza, Jerez de la Frontera, Lille, Menorca, Ponta Delgada, Reus, Tangier, Toulouse, Valladolid, Venice
Braathens International Airways	Seasonal charter: Aalborg, Copenhagen Gothenburg
British Airways	London–Gatwick
Brussels Airlines	Brussels
CanaryFly	Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, Tenerife–North
Chair Airlines	Seasonal: Zürich
Condor	Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Stuttgart
Corendon Airlines	Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hannover, Nuremberg
Corendon Dutch Airlines	Amsterdam Seasonal: Maastricht/Aachen
DAT	Seasonal charter: Aalborg, Aarhus, Billund, Copenhagen
Discover Airlines	Frankfurt, Munich
easyJet	Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin, Bristol, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Manchester, Milan–Malpensa Seasonal: Amsterdam, Belfast–International, Edinburgh (begins 7 December 2024), Geneva, Glasgow, London–Southend (begins 1 May 2025), Naples
Edelweiss Air	Zürich
Enter Air	Seasonal charter: Katowice, Warsaw–Chopin
Eurowings	Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg Seasonal: Berlin, Graz, Hannover, Nuremberg, Salzburg, Stuttgart
Finnair	Helsinki
Freebird Airlines Europe	Seasonal charter: Paderborn/Lippstadt
Iberia	Madrid Seasonal: Alicante, Badajoz, Córdoba, León, Melilla, Santiago de Compostela, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo, Zaragoza
Iberia Express	Madrid
Icelandair	Seasonal: Reykjavik–Keflavík
Jet2.com	Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bournemouth (begins 6 April 2025), Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne
Jettime	Seasonal charter: Örebro
Lufthansa	Seasonal: Munich
Luxair	Luxembourg
Marabu	Munich Seasonal: Hamburg
Mauritania Airlines	Nouadhibou, Nouakchott
Neos	Milan–Malpensa, Verona
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Copenhagen, Oslo Seasonal: Bergen, Gothenburg, Sandefjord, Stavanger, Stockholm–Arlanda, Trondheim Seasonal charter: Ålesund, Kalmar, Karlstad
Play	Seasonal: Reykjavík–Keflavík
Royal Air Maroc	Laayoune
Royal Air Maroc Express	Casablanca
Ryanair	Bergamo, Berlin, Birmingham, Bologna, Bournemouth, Bristol, Budapest, Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn, Cork, Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Kraków, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Madrid, Málaga, Manchester, Marrakesh, Milan–Malpensa, Newcastle upon Tyne, Palma de Mallorca, Rome–Fiumicino, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Valencia, Vienna Seasonal: Barcelona, Glasgow–Prestwick, Hahn, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Memmingen, Pisa, Porto, Shannon, Treviso
Scandinavian Airlines	Oslo Seasonal: Copenhagen, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal charter: Bergen, Billund, Gothenburg, Haugesund, Kalmar, Kristiansand, Molde, Stavanger, Trondheim
Smartwings	Prague Seasonal charter: Lübeck, Tromsø
Sunclass Airlines	Charter: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal charter: Aalborg, Bergen, Billund, Bodø, Gothenburg, Harstad/Narvik, Helsinki, Jönköping, Karlstad, Kuopio, Luleå, Malmö, Örebro, Stavanger, Sandefjord, Tromsø, Trondheim, Turku, Umeå, Vaasa
Sundair	Seasonal: Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Kassel
TAP Air Portugal	Lisbon
Transavia	Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Paris–Orly, Rotterdam/The Hague
TUI Airways	Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin, East Midlands, Glasgow, London–Gatwick, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne Seasonal: Bournemouth, Exeter
TUI fly Belgium	Brussels, Liège, Ostend/Bruges Seasonal: Antwerp
TUI fly Deutschland	Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart
TUI fly Netherlands	Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen
TUI fly Nordic	Charter: Gothenburg, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal charter: Luleå, Malmö, Norrköping, Umeå, Växjö
Volotea	Asturias, Lyon, Nantes Seasonal: Bilbao, Toulouse
Vueling	Alicante, Asturias, Barcelona, Bilbao, Granada, Málaga, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Valencia Seasonal: London–Gatwick
Wizz Air	Seasonal: Budapest

	Passengers	Aircraft movements	Cargo (tonnes)
2000	9,376,640	98,063	43,706
2001	9,332,132	93,291	40,860
2002	9,009,756	93,803	39,638
2003	9,181,229	99,712	40,050
2004	9,467,494	104,659	40,934
2005	9,827,157	110,748	40,389
2006	10,286,726	114,949	38,360
2007	10,354,903	114,355	37,491
2008	10,212,123	116,252	33,695
2009	9,155,665	101,557	25,994
2010	9,486,035	103,087	24,528
2011	10,538,829	111,271	23,679
2012	9,892,067	100,393	20,601
2013	9,770,253	95,483	18,781
2014	10,315,732	102,211	19,821
2015	10,627,182	100,417	18,800
2016	12,093,645	111,996	18,588
2017	13,092,117	118,554	18,045
2018	13,573,304	131,027	19,174
2019	13,261,228	126,451	19,739
2020	5,134,252	67,280	13,926
2021	6,899,523	83,983	15,853
2022	12,417,699	119,530	15,830
Source: Aena Statistics

Busiest european routes from LPA (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Düsseldorf	354,653	15%
2	Amsterdam	347,277	5%
3	Manchester	311,392	6%
4	Frankfurt	300,620	17%
5	Oslo	296,887	19%
6	London-Gatwick	283,531	23%
7	London-Stansted	235,524	24%
8	Stockholm-Arlanda	225,175	20%
9	Copenhagen	225,032	2%
10	Dublin	189,914	31%
11	Birmingham	179,309	13%
12	Bristol	171,246	28%
13	Helsinki	164,262	17%
14	Hamburg	154,240	24%
15	Munich	148,202	9%
16	Zurich	140,754	36%
17	Brussels	135,714	3%
18	Berlin	132,289	4%
19	Cologne/Bonn	123,114	14%
20	Newcastle	122,252	21%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Busiest intercontinental routes from LPA (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Laayoune	47,375	13%
2	Marrakech	44,745	40%
3	Nouakchott	37,801	29%
4	Dakar-Diass	20,433	34%
5	Sal	13,689	69%
6	Casablanca	10,593	18%
7	Dakhla	7,292	119%
8	Nouadhibou	6,963	49%
9	Boa Vista	6,909	25%
10	Guelmim	4,995	14%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

Busiest domestic routes from LPA (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 / 23
1	Madrid	1,606,855	12%
2	Tenerife-North	901,701	14%
3	Lanzarote	811,069	9%
4	Fuerteventura	659,647	10%
5	Barcelona	508,117	8%
6	Seville	278,699	7%
7	Málaga	242,673	22%
8	La Palma	229,694	7%
9	Tenerife-South	221,266	17%
10	Santiago de Compostela	165,691	0%
11	Bilbao	133,086	7%
12	Valencia	100,997	4%
13	Asturias	94,078	25%
14	Palma de Mallorca	78,719	15%
15	El Hierro	64,983	15%
16	La Gomera	55,572	59%
17	Granada	53,898	58%
18	Vigo	44,788	19%
19	Alicante	41,241	9%
20	Pamplona	33,490	20%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo

The airport can be reached by several island roads from all points in the island. Bus services are provided by Global with their routes 5, 60, 66, 90 and 91.. There are also special bus services from most towns in Gran Canaria, but access by taxi is usual.

Gran Canaria's main motorway GC1 runs past the airport providing transport links to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the North and to the tourist resorts in the South.

Plans have existed for several years to construct a rail link connecting the airport to Las Palmas and Maspalomas. As of 2018, the Tren de Gran Canaria scheme was estimated to be underfunded by €1,500 million.

There is an airbase of the Spanish Air and Space Force to the east of the runways. Beyond several hangars opposite to the passenger terminal, the Gando Air Base (Base Aérea de Gando) contains ten shelters situated on the southern end of the eastern runway. They harbor the Ala 46 with F/A-18 Hornets, CASA 212 and the Eurocopter AS 532 of SAR. Ala 46 or 46 Wing, composed of 462 and 802 fighter squadron, defends the Spanish airspace around the Canary Islands. It is one of the biggest and most important air bases of the Spanish Air and Space Force and is unique for the wide variety of aircraft which it operates.

Military activity was most intense during the mid-1970s, at the time of the crisis of decolonisation of Western Sahara and its occupation by Morocco. Military crises in Western Africa, like the 2013 Mali intervention by France, made Gando Air Base the main air platform for operations in Western Africa area by NATO. In 2006 Spain proposed Gando Air Base as headquarters for the newly created US Africa Command (AFRICOM), but the AFRICOM HQ was ultimately based in Stuttgart (Germany).

The Canary Islands Air Command (Mando Aéreo de Canarias – MACAN) is based in the city of Las Palmas. Canary Islands Air Command is the only territorial general Air Command Air Force in Spain; its mission is the maintenance, preparation and command of air units located in the Canary archipelago. Any Spanish military airplane that lands in the Canary Islands is immediately put at the disposal of the Canary Islands Air Command, who can retain it and use it as long as necessary for missions within the islands. This happens sometimes with heavy military transport, antisubmarine warfare and early warning airplanes; the islands do not have these on a permanent basis. Once the plane is released by the Canary Islands Air Command, it can leave the Canary Islands and reverts to the Air Force Commands of mainland Spain.

The deployment base of Gando Air Base is the Lanzarote Military Airfield (Aeródromo Militar de Lanzarote). Lanzarote Military Airfield has permanently its own Air Force troops platoons and the radar for the air defence (the EVA 22, which covers the Eastern Canary Islands and the maritime area up to the Sahara), but it has no permanently based military planes, using the ones from Gando.

Canaryfly has its head office in Hangar L. Binter Canarias also has its head office on the airport grounds.

At 1:15 PM on 27 March 1977, a bomb planted by the Movement for the Independence and Autonomy of the Canaries Archipelago (MPAIAC) exploded in a florist's shop on the terminal concourse. Fifteen minutes of warning was given to the airport authorities, who started to evacuate the building; the inside of the terminal was damaged and eight people were injured, one seriously.

Media related to Gran Canaria Airport at Wikimedia Commons