Andorra-La Seu airport is going through a sweet moment. After decades of being a promise to improve air communication in its unique hinterland serving two states in the Pyrenees, in recent years it has managed to stand out on several fronts: corporate flights that are growing, the consolidation of regular links with Madrid and later with Palma, both with Air Nostrum and whose good occupations suggest new routes or airlines to bring Andorra closer to other destinations. The third leg of this growing trend is emergency services, with a fixed detachment for mountain rescues and a 24-hour heliport for health emergencies.
To this we must add the establishment of companies related to the sector: helicopters, training, maintenance and passenger transportation, which in the case of private aviation have had a segregated terminal for a few months now, in addition to an increasing number of aircraft. of individuals residing in Andorra and in the rest of that mountain area.
In the Andorra-La Seu passenger terminal, an old original framed painting that has faded over time is still preserved. Signed in 1980, it reflects a fully developed airport, with a good number of industrial facilities, hangars, leisure areas, maintenance, passenger services and an independent control tower.
That drawing, like a veteran Render from 44 years ago, reflects the complete dream of Josep Betriu, a Catalan businessman established in Andorra. This financed the construction of the first private commercial airport in Spain south of La Seu d’Urgell and just 15 kilometers from the entrance to Andorra on its southern border: the Farga de Moles customs office. DAUSA or Desarrollo del Alto Urgel S.A., was the company he created to launch and manage an airport called to facilitate communications in that territory, investing then 3,000 million pesetas (about 18 million euros). It achieved this partially and for a short period of time, between 1982 and 1984, when the facility had regular flights to Barcelona operated by the defunct company Aviaco, the Iberia subsidiary specialized in domestic flights. It must be taken into account that road links were much less developed than today.
The suspension of regular flights in the mid-80s left the facility mired in uncertainty, with a good number of well-intentioned projects that were attempted to move forward, although none came to fruition even in the 90s, even with the designation of La Seu as sub-headquarters. Olympic nor in the early 2000s, when Betriu tried to convince a group of investors of the benefits of its airport.
Finally, the Generalitat of Catalonia began long negotiations with the businessman in 2005 and agreed to the purchase of his unique airport plot in 2007 for eight million euros. After major renovation works, the facility was reopened in 2010 and became part of the public company Aeroports de Catalunya, which also manages the Lleida-Alguaire airport and the La Cerdanya aerodrome.
When the airport reopened on June 4, 2010, the manager presented the facility with a completely renovated flight runway, taxiways and parking apron. The passenger terminal and tower also received a comprehensive renovation and renovation and then the first hangar to house aircraft was presented: that of the company Helitrans Pyrinees S.L., a helicopter operator specialized in aerial work in the mountains whose evolution and growth has been hand in hand with this place.
In the following 10 years, at this airport, one of the few in Spain that does not belong to the Aena network, eight more hangars were built around the platform and finally in the summer of 2024, 19 hangars will be completed on as many available plots around the parking platform. These allow aircraft based at the airport and visitors who request it not to spend the night outdoors.
Among the companies installed in these new airport buildings, Andorra Aviation Group stands out, which has built the second FBO in Catalonia after the corporate terminal at the Barcelona-El Prat airport. Its facilities, designed as a VIP terminal, are used by travelers arriving or departing from Andorra-La Seu on private or corporate flights operated by jets or turboprops that arrive from all over Europe to the runway at the gates of Andorra. Since its reopening and apart from the money paid for its acquisition, the management company has invested just over seven million euros in the improvements and renovations of the facility. The last important item was the 1,100,000 invested for the beacon that allows night operations, while each company that chooses to have hangars as a land concession, assumes the cost of each one, as occurs in practically all airport or airport networks. ports, an investment that is compensated by the concession term.
With all the hangars marketed, the manager has been forced, ahead of schedule, to design new phases and growth areas with access to the runway and aircraft apron, since the interest of new companies in settling there and the request for those already established due to having more space has led to the development of new areas for hangars and aviation services.
The new area includes three plots to build large hangars of 1,200 m2, located next to the main airport platform and the access road to the terminal. Commercial and maintenance companies will be installed in these. The concession of the hangars is for 25 years to each company and, at the end of this period, their renewal will be renegotiated.
In another area, parallel to the flight runway near header 03, it is planned to build another six medium-sized hangars of 600 m2 each, intended for general aviation clients. With all of them in operation, there will be a total of 28. This new phase also includes a 300 m2 office building, a Vertiport for landing and take-off of autonomous aircraft, similar to the one already in Lleida, in addition to a new vehicle parking, since each time There is more demand justified by the airport’s movements, which in 2023 totaled 4,653 takeoffs and landings
To these spaces will also be added the installation of the new building of the base of the GRAE or Special Actions Group of the Generalitat Firefighters. With a Bell 429 helicopter permanently based there, this airborne rescue group performs an average of 450 operations annually. It is expected that the GRAE will have this facility throughout 2024.
The adaptation of the facilities to meet the new demand for spaces for aeronautical activity will be presented this afternoon to the members who make up the Strategic Board of the Andorra-La Seu d’Urgell airport. The group is chaired by the Delegation of the Government of the Generalitat in the High Pyrenees and Aran. The Presidency of the Diputación de Lleida, the town councils of La Seu d’Urgell, Montferrer and Castellbò, Ribera de Urgellet, the Regional Council of Alt Urgell, the presidencies of the associations of businessmen and hoteliers of the Alt are part of this Urgell, the Department of Territory of the Generalitat, Airports of Catalonia and the Catalan Tourism Agency.
The Delegation of the Government of Andorra, the Secretary of State for Energy Transition, Transport and Mobility and the Director of the Office of Energy and Climate Change and Tourism of Andorra have also been invited to participate in the table meeting.
Now, 44 years after that picture was painted that imagined the future of the airport born through the efforts of Betriu, the airport, with 10 companies installed and 110 direct jobs, is increasingly similar to that dream that the businessman had who wanted to put wings to Andorra and the Alt Urgell region, Lleida.
