The Monflorite-Alcalá (Huesca) airport is located 10.5 km south-east of the city of Huesca, between the towns of Alcala del Obispo and Monflorite. It is in a privileged location for communication with the Pyrenees of Aragon, an important stop for skiers, since it is the site of some of Spain's major resorts.

Declared a general interest airport and included in the Aena network in October 2000, Monflorite-Alcalá (Huesca) does not yet operate commercial aircraft traffic. To equip it with modern facilities, capable of serving the air traffic demand within appropriate levels of safety and quality, Aena is undertaking major infrastructure works, consisting primarily of the construction of a new Terminal Area and a new Airfield.

History

The activities which led to the founding of the Monflorite – Alcalá del Obispo Flying Centre date back to 1930. A group of aviation enthusiasts started up the Huesca Flying Club, carrying out their activities in the area known as Saso de Loreto, very close to the city of Huesca.

There are records of gliding activities over the hills of Monflorite dating back to 1934, when proceedings were initiated for the creation of the Provincial Gliding School of Huesca on the site. In 1940, the Gliding School of Monflorite was created under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Air, its first activities being mainly geared towards the training of Spanish pilots and instructors.

By this time, the hills of Monflorite had already witnessed several soaring records. On 7 December 1934, the Spanish pilot José Ordovás managed to stay in the air above the Monflorite mountains for 2 hours and 52 minutes; on 1 December 1935, Valentín Izquierdo managed to stay up for five hours. This record was broken on 31 July 1941 when pilot Miguel Tauler, aboard the Spenlaub glider, soared for six hours and one minute over the Huesca School. The record was almost doubled at the end of the same year on 29 October, when Julián Sevillano stayed in the air for eleven hours and 24 minutes on a Kranich II glider. On 30 April 1942, Salinas stayed up for thirteen hours and four minutes in a Baby II.

In 1941 records were also broken with regards distance: Carlos Gutiérrez flew a distance of 90 kilometres from Monflorite to Fraga on 28 October in a Weihe glider. Up to 1948 the Centre continued to set all-time bests for soaring, distance and height. In 1945, Luis Vicente Juez stayed up for 52 hours and 36 minutes in a Weihe glider and the same instructor reached a height of 6,263 metres in a Kranich II. Pilot Miguel Ara broke the national distance record in 1948 with a flight of 321 kilometres. Luis Vicente Juez was the 1952 world champion for two-seater gliders and the 1956 runner-up for single-seater gliders.

The school was taken over by the Civil Aviation Subsecretariat, part of the Ministry of Transport, Trade and Communications, in the seventies. On 1 November 1992 it became part of the Spanish State Aeronautical Training Company (SENASA). The Centre is accredited by the International Aeronautics Federation (FAI) for carrying out official record attempts.

Under the terms of the Ministerial Decree of 20 October 2000, Monflorite-Alcalá (Huesca) airport was officially designated as a public airport subject to control by the public company Aena. Its Master Plan was approved on 24 July 2001, the contents of which were reiterated and extended in a new Master Plan, approved on 5 November 2002, setting out a series of substantial improvements to increase the future viability of the airport.

Monflorite-Alcalá (Huesca) Airport - AENA airport

Address: Ctra. Huesca a Alcalá del Obispo, Km. 11 22111 Huesca

Telephone: 974 280 561

Fax: 974 280 565

URL: http://www.aena.es/huesca-monflorite

AENA accepts no responsibility for the information posted at this site neither for the possible damages caused for the use of this information.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2006.
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