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Reus Airport

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Reus Airport
Aeropuerto de Reus
Aeroport de Reus
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorAENA
ServesReus, Barcelona, Tarragona, Costa Dorada
Elevation AMSL71 m (233 ft)
Coordinates41°08′51″N 001°10′02″E / 41.14750°N 1.16722°E / 41.14750; 1.16722
Websitewww.aena.es
Map
REU is located in Spain
REU
REU
Location within Spain
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
07/25 2,459 8,068 Asphalt
Statistics (2025)
Passengers1,336,826
Passenger change 2024–25Increase 13.1%
Aircraft movements23,251
Source: AENA[1][2][3]

Reus Airport (IATA: REU, ICAO: LERS) (also known as Barcelona-Reus) is located near the beaches of the Costa Daurada, equidistant in relation to the town of Constantí and the city of Reus and approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) from the city centre of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain.

The airport receives a large amount of tourist traffic from passengers destined for the beach resorts of Salou and Cambrils as well as for the centre of Barcelona, which is approximately 103 km (64 mi) to the northeast. It is also close to one of Europe's largest theme resorts, PortAventura World, and the Mountains of Prades, a Mediterranean forest in the comarca of Baix Camp.

History

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Early years

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The airport was founded in 1935 by the Aeroclub de Reus. It served as a Republican base during the Spanish Civil War and after the Nationalist victory served as a Spanish Air Force base. The base was demilitarised in the late 1990s and became a fully civilian airport administered by AENA, the Spanish airports authority.[citation needed]

Development since the 2000s

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The airport has been a Ryanair base since October 2008 although for the winter 2009–2010 season Ryanair reduced the number of flights and destinations from Reus by a substantial amount. This reduction was only temporary for the winter months, and a full flight programme recommenced late March 2010.[citation needed]

On 29 June 2011 Ryanair announced that their base would close on 30 October with the loss of 28 routes after failing to reach an agreement with the local government. Ryanair resumed some flights in March 2012, but they are operated by aircraft not based at Reus.[4]

Terminal

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In order to adapt Reus Airport to future air traffic demand, Aena Aeropuertos has carried out a series of improvements and extended its facilities. These include a new check-in building between the arrivals and departures buildings, integrating the three buildings into one. The departures building has also been remodelled for use as a boarding area. The departures terminal had 23 check-in desks and 12 boarding gates spread over two rooms but in 2023, 3 gates were removed due to the small size of the terminal and inefficiency of showing passports at the gates. There are currently 9 gates: gates 1 to 3 are intended for Schengen flights, and 4 to 9 are dedicated to non-Schengen destinations - although occasionally the two rooms are made into one with Schengen flights departing from other gates. Before entering the departure lounge for gates 4 to 9, passengers have to go through passport control unlike gates 1 to 3. The public area and the passenger only zone have cafeteria and restaurant services and duty-free shops for both gates 1 to 3 and 4 to 9. For the lounge with gates 4 to 9 the duty free shop has been significantly upgraded in 2024, it now has two entrances.[citation needed]

Airlines and destinations

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The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Reus:[5]

AirlinesDestinations
Air Nostrum Seasonal charter: Porto[6]
easyJet Seasonal: Belfast–International, Bristol ,[7] Glasgow,[8] London–Gatwick,[9] London–Luton,[10] Manchester,[10] Newcastle upon Tyne[11]
Iberia Seasonal: Palma de Mallorca[12]
Jet2.com Seasonal: Belfast–International,[13] Birmingham,[13] Bournemouth (begins 2 May 2027),[14] Bristol,[15] East Midlands,[13] Edinburgh,[13] Glasgow,[13] Leeds/Bradford,[13] Liverpool,[16] London–Gatwick,[17] London–Luton,[13] London–Stansted,[13] Manchester,[13] Newcastle upon Tyne[13]
Ryanair Seasonal: Birmingham,[18] Brussels Charleroi,[18] Cork,[19] Dublin,[18] East Midlands,[18] Eindhoven,[18] Leeds/Bradford,[18] Liverpool,[20] London–Stansted,[21] Manchester,[22] Shannon,[23] Weeze[24]
TUI Airways[25] Seasonal: Aberdeen,[26] Belfast–International,[27] Birmingham,[28] Bristol,[29] Cardiff,[30] Glasgow,[31] London–Gatwick,[32] Manchester,[33] Newcastle upon Tyne[34]
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels[35]
Vueling Seasonal: Paris–Orly[24]

Statistics

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Aerial view
Terminal interior

Development

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In 1995, approximately 500,000 passengers passed through the airport. In 2004 this number more than doubled to 1.1 million and in 2009 the airport reached a peak of 1.7 million. By 2014 this had dropped (-12.4%) to 850,492 passengers.[36] In 2015 the drop continued to 705,067 passengers (-17,1%).[1] After that the number of passengers has increased a lot to 817,765 passengers in 2016 (+16,0%). In 2017 the airport passed after 6 years again the mark of 1 million passengers. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, passenger numbers dropped significantly but started to recover in 2022 although 1m passengers was not hit.[citation needed] In 2023 over 1m passengers passed through the terminal once again and is most likely going to increase for 2024 and 2025. This is due to more airlines and routes taking place, for example, easyJet have relaunched flights from Manchester airport and London’s Luton airport for the 2024 summer season and for the 2025 summer season, London’s Southend airport.[citation needed]

Busiest routes

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Busiest routes from REU (2023)
Rank Destination Passengers Change 2021/22
1 Dublin 175,577 Increase 11%
2 Manchester 109,372 Increase 9%
3 London-Stansted 94,686 Increase 59%
4 Birmingham 67,875 Increase 9%
5 Cork 61,129 Increase 28%
6 Eindhoven 50,712 Decrease 7%
7 Glasgow 50,555 Increase 5%
8 Shannon 44,227 Increase 60%
9 Newcastle 43,308 Decrease 1%
10 Charleroi 42,579 Increase 40%
11 Belfast-International 40,537 Steady 0%
12 East Midlands 39,877 Increase 17%
13 Leeds/Bradford 38,853 Decrease 20%
14 Bristol 33,890 Increase 19%
15 Liverpool 30,791 Increase 63%
16 London-Gatwick 24,367 Increase 10%
17 Weeze 21,204 Steady New route
18 Paris-Orly 19,684 Steady New route
19 Edinburgh 14,553 Decrease 19%
20 Brussels 10,738 Decrease 1%
Source: Estadísticas de tráfico aereo[37]

Incidents and accidents

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  • On 20 July 1970, a Condor Boeing 737-100 (registered D-ABEL) which was approaching Reus Airport, collided with a privately owned Piper Cherokee light aircraft (registration EC-BRU) near Tarragona, Spain. The Piper subsequently crashed, resulting in the death of the three persons on board. The Condor Boeing suffered only minor damage, and there were no injuries amongst the 95 passengers and 5 crew members.[38]
  • In 1996, two powerful bombs placed by the Basque group Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA) in the airport left more than 30 people injured. That same day two other bombs exploded in two hotels located near the airport.[39]
  • In 2004 a Swearingen Metro aircraft was to be repositioned to Barcelona Airport for maintenance work, but during takeoff, while accelerating 80 knots, the nose gear collapsed. The aircraft sustained serious damage to the fuselage, engines and the propellers.[40]

References

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  1. 1 2 "Informes Anuales (provisional) - 2015" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Reus Airport 2015" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2017.
  3. ↑ "Presentación - Aeropuerto de Reus". Aena.es (in Spanish). 9 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  4. ↑ Pérez, Gorka; Pérez, Mercè (29 June 2011). "Ryanair abandonará Reus". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "Airlines - Reus Airport". Aena.es. 9 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  6. ↑ Pérez, Mónica (11 April 2023). "El perfil del turista del Aeropuerto de Reus: mujer de entre 30 y 49 años, británica y de vacaciones". Diari de Tarragona (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  7. ↑ "EasyJet estrenarà dues noves rutes aèries que connectaran Reus amb Bristol i Newcastle el 2026". Diari Més (in Catalan). 15 October 2025. Retrieved 15 October 2025.
  8. ↑ "easyJet's two brand new routes from Glasgow Airport". 19 November 2024.
  9. ↑ "EasyJet launches Reus to London Gatwick route for summer 2026". Catalan News. 18 December 2025. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  10. 1 2 "La companyia EasyJet tornarà a operar des de l'Aeroport de Reus amb vols a Manchester i Londres Luton a partir de l'abril | Actualitat | Diputació de Tarragona". 7 November 2023.
  11. ↑ "EasyJet holidays expands Newcastle network with fresh trade push - All Content". Archived from the original on 12 June 2025. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  12. ↑ "Air Nostrum connectarà Reus amb Palma de Mallorca durant els mesos d'estiu". Diari Més. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gray, Sarra (15 October 2025). "Jet2 puts more flights on sale to sunny hotspots - including six brand new routes from the UK". Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  14. ↑ "Jet2 expands summer 2027 range from Bournemouth and Edinburgh". Travel Weekly (in Portuguese). 31 March 2025. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  15. ↑ "Jet2's Bristol Airport base will bring 450,000-holiday seats". ukaviation.news. 11 November 2020.
  16. ↑ "Jet2 puts 16m seats on sale for summer 2025".
  17. ↑ "Jet2 to introduce Gatwick flights and holidays". Travel Weekly (in Portuguese). 31 March 2025. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Plana, Montse (30 March 2024). "Los 17 destinos a los que volar desde el Aeropuerto de Reus". Diari de Tarragona (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  19. ↑ "Ryanair unveils summer schedule from Cork with new Spanish route included". echo live. 5 February 2025. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  20. ↑ Whilding, Alex (29 July 2026). "All delayed and cancelled flights at Liverpool John Lennon Airport today". The Leader. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  21. ↑ Pérez, Mónica (20 October 2022). "Ryanair no volará este invierno en Reus y lanza rutas para verano de 2023". Diari de Tarragona (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  22. ↑ Whilding, Alex (27 August 2026). "Full list of cancelled and delayed flights at Manchester Airport today". The Leader. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  23. ↑ Ryan, Cathal (12 November 2025). "Ryanair announces four new exciting routes from Shannon Airport". Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  24. 1 2 Orban, André (29 March 2023). "Reus Airport opens two routes to Paris and Weeze". Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  25. ↑ "Flight Timetable". tui.co.uk.
  26. ↑ Hutchings, Rhys (22 December 2017). "New TUI Airways UK Summer 2018 Routes".
  27. ↑ "All the summer beach holiday destinations you can fly to from NI". 21 January 2023.
  28. ↑ Whilding, Alex (23 June 2026). "Full list of delays and cancellations at Birmingham Airport today". The Leader. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  29. ↑ "Tui adds 2020 capacity from Manchester and Bristol airports". Travel Weekly.
  30. ↑ "The summer holiday destinations you can fly directly to from Cardiff Airport". 18 January 2024.
  31. ↑ King, Natalie (9 July 2026). "Get £40 TUI flights in the school holidays - if you don't care about the destination". Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  32. ↑ Nath, Kanchan (3 April 2024). "TUI UK bolsters summer 2025 flying programme with focus on choice and flexibility".
  33. ↑ Pell, Miranda (8 September 2026). "Full list of 72 delayed Manchester Airport flights as 'technical issue' causes chaos". Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  34. ↑ "Newcastle Airport's full list of 2024 destinations including new summer flights | Chronicle Live". www.chroniclelive.co.uk. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  35. ↑ Pérez, Mónica (4 May 2024). "El Aeropuerto de Reus despliega el grueso de sus rutas para 2024". Diari de Tarragona (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  36. ↑ Informes Anuales - 2014 - AENA
  37. ↑ "Inicio". www.aena.es. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  38. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-130 D-ABEL Reus, Spain Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved: 26 October 2023
  39. ↑ "Suscripción digital online". El Mundo en Orbyt (in Spanish). 21 July 1996. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  40. ↑ Ranter, Harro (5 November 2013). "Reus Airport profile". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
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