AviationGeeks.com - Madeira Airport (Portugal)

Facts

Name: Santa Catarina Airport (Madeira Funchal Airport)

IATA Code: FNC

ICAO Code: LPMA

Type: Public

Location: Santa Catarina

Serves: Madeira

Elevation: 59 meters (192 feet)

Number of runways: 1

Length of runway(s): 2781 meters (9,124 feet)

Number of Terminals: 1

Annual flights: 25,261

Annual passenger traffic: 2,348,000

History

The Island, Madeira, is located about 1,000 kilometers from the European continent. Therefore Madeira was very isolated until the airport was built. 1,600 meter runway was completed on the 8^th of July, 1964. The first plane to land was Dakota CS-DGA that was used for meteorological test during preparation for the airport. About a decade later, a new terminal was constructed that was able to 500,000 passengers annually.

Photo by Rui Alves

Traffic

There was a steady increase in passenger numbers until 2008, when there was a 4,3% decrease from 2007. In 2009, 25,261 flights and 2,348,000 passengers moved through Funchal, but it was still a decrease of 13,7%.

Airlines

The following airlines offer services in Madeira:

Aigle Azur (Paris)

Air Berlin (Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg, Zürich)

Air Nostrum / Iberia (Bilbao, Valencia)

Arkefly (Amterdam)

Austrian Airlines (Vienna)

Binter Canarias (Gran Canaria)

Cimber Sterling (Copenhagen)

Condor (Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Stuttgart)

EasyJet (Bristol, Lisbon, London)

Europe Airpost (Montpellier, Paris)

Finnair (Helsinki)

Hamburg International (Paris)

Jet2 (Manchester)

Jetairfly (Brussels)

Luxair (Luxembourg)

Niki (Vienna)

Neos (Milan)

Palmair (Bournemouth)

Portugalia (Lisbon)

SATA Air / International (Copenhagen, Dublin, Gran Canaria, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Ponta Delgada,      Porto, Stockholm, Tenerife, Zürich)

SBA Airlines (Caracas)

TAP Portugal (Caracas, Lisbon, London, Porto)

Thomas Cook Airlines (Billund, Brussels, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Helsinki, London, Manchester)

Thomson Airways (Birmingham, Bournemouth, Exeter, Glasgow, London, Manchester, Newcastle)

Transavia (Amsterdam, Paris)

Travel Services (Prague)

TUIfly (Basel, Cologne/Bonn, Frankfurt, Hanover, Stuttgart)

Accidents / Incidents

On 8^th of November, 1958 (before the construction of the runway), ARTOP Martin PBM-5 Mariner went missing on a flight from Lisbon. The last radio contact with the crew was, “I am forced to land immediately” (Flight Safety Foundation).

On 5^th of Mars, 1973, Aviaco Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle hit the ocean during approach. The aircraft was never recovered as the aircraft sank to a depth of 740 meter. Therefore the cause of the crash was never discovered.

On 19^th of November, 1977, TAP Air´s Boeing 727-282 crashed when the crew was making its third attempt to land in a poor weather. They landed 2,000 feet past the touch-down marking and skidded of the runway and burst into flames on the beach 131 passenger out of 164.

On 18^th of December, 1977, SATA Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle crashed into the sea during approach killing 36 of the 57 onboard.