La Seu d’Urgell airport has just completed nine years as a commercial aerodrome and has launched a new route to Palma that has not been without criticism. The mayor of Vielha and vice-president of the Lleida Tourism Board, Juan Antonio Serrano, questioned the funding by the Government of an infrastructure “which serves mainly to bring customers to Andorra”. The truth is that the Government of Andorra plans to contribute 400,000 euros this year to an infrastructure that has a deficit of close to one million euros; “we contribute close to 40%”, says the Secretary of State for Energy Transition, Transport and Mobility of the Government of Andorra, David Forné. Aeroports de Catalunya has not provided the data, but does not question the maintenance of the co-management of the infrastructure.
In addition to covering part of the operational deficit, the Government of Andorra finances the Madrid-La Seu route all year and the recently launched route to Palma operated by Air Nostrum. “We are talking about between 600 and 700,000 euros for the Madrid route and a maximum of 200,000 for the Palma route”, says Forné. The Government of Andorra and Aeroports de Catalunya decline to value the criticisms of the mayor of Vielha and part of the Aranese tourism sector. David Forné aligns himself with Josefina Lladós, president of the Regional Council of Alt Urgell and the mayor of La Seu d’Urgell, Joan Barrera. Both claim that the airport is a little more than the flights to Palma and Madrid and that one in three workers at La Seu d’Urgell have their workplace in Andorra.
The Government of Andorra has collaborated in the marking and lighting of the track, investments which, according to Forné, have generated private investments. The most important, that of Andorra Aviation Group. In January, Aeroports de Catalunya authorized this company to operate an FBO (Fixed Based Operator) that allows passengers to enter the hangar directly to complete check-in and security checks. This is the second FBO in Catalonia (the first, at BCN-Josep Tarradellas el Prat airport). “The FBO is intended for luxury corporate customers, such as managers, athletes or artists who want to travel for professional or private reasons from Andorra and the Seu d’Urgell region to other destinations within Europe ”, explains Chris Bouwer, partner and manager of Andorra Aviation Group.
In 2023, the number of passengers at La Seu d’Urgell airport fell compared to 2022, the year in which flights to Madrid began. According to Aeroports de Catalunya, in 2023 there were 9,380, and in 2022, they reached 11,238. A year earlier, in 2021, 5,145 passengers were registered. Last year, there were 170 commercial flights, 1,532 corporate flights and air taxis, and 2,951 aerial tasks, rescues or rescues.
The night operation was approved in the middle of last June and there have been four operations carried out at night with corporate aviation. The company AirNostrum is processing with AESA (State Air Safety Agency) to be able to carry out night operations, but at the moment it does not have the certificate.
The airport generates 112 direct jobs. According to Aeroports de Catalunya, “it is a pole of attraction for new companies in the sector in the territory” and there are currently 10 companies located there. From the Catalan public company they say that this airport “generates and attracts European projects that can be implemented in the territory, and improves connectivity to the Pyrenees, in addition to expanding the options for tourism and improving the provision of public air services” .
