Sabadell airport is located at 10 kilometers from Barcelona. The airport opened in 1934. It has a 900-meter runway, with an additional 150 from the security zone, and there are currently more than 200 aircraft based at the aerodrome.
There are around 20 companies in the airport that provide work for more than 200 people and register more than 60,000 flights per year. The Aeroclub Barcelona-Sabadell is the first aeroclub in Spain with more than 1,000 members.
History of the Sabadell airport
In 1910 Sabadell city organized an aeronautical exhibition with first flight with a motor. At the same time, the mayor of the co-capital of Vallès asked the Association of Air Locomotion to evaluate the city for the possible construction of an aerodrome.
In 1919, aviator Manel Colomer made an emergency landing in the area known as Creu Alta de Sabadell, which was the first aeronautical operation in Sabadell. As a result of this maneuver, the pioneers of the Catalan aviation Josep Canudas and Manel Colomer landed with two airplanes in an improvised field in “Can Diviu” -in whose land is the current airport- to thank the reception of the city of Sabadell.
In 1931, on the occasion of the “Festa Major” de Sabadell, the first air festival was held at Camp n’Oriac. Later, the Aeroclub de Sabadell was founded and shortly thereafter, the mayor of the city, Salvador Ribé, offered the Ministry of War the land necessary for the establishment of an airfield. The government authorized the Ministry to accept the cession of the land, and in 1933 the airport’s technical project was designed. Just one year later, on August 1, 1934, the Sabadell airfield was officially inaugurated, for use by both military aviation and civil aviation.
At the beginning of the Civil War, the aerodrome acquired relevance due to its strategic position, which is why the Air Forces of the Spanish Republic turned it into one of its main air bases in the area.
The workshops of the Naval Aeronautics were also installed, in which the first 230 Polikarpov I-15 aircraft of a series of 300 were finished. After the beginning of the Offensive of Catalonia, at the beginning of the year 1939, production of fighters ceased and the personnel was reduced to a group of mechanics. A few days later, on January 27, the Francoist troops entered and days later the Condor Legion planes, from whose base they continued to operate during the campaign of Catalonia.
In the post-war years the development of the airport slowed down again. In 1949, after the celebration of the International Air Festival and the creation of the Aeroclub Barcelona-Sabadell in 1953, the activity of the Sabadell Airport was again promoted.
In 1954, the Ministry of the Air officially accepted the cession of the airfield, with an extension of 76 hectares. Initially, this extension was used for military aviation, so hangars, warehouses, warehouses and a repair shop were built.
In July of 1965 the military endowment was retired and in 1970, the impact of the aeronautical servitudes was reduced due to a new norm, allowing the urban and industrial expansion in the surroundings. Almost simultaneously, the aeronautical activity grew due to new aerial activities: firefighting, traffic surveillance and medical emergencies.
The new 900-meter track, of which we have spoken initially, was inaugurated on June 14, 1970. That same year, an aerial festival was again held with the participation of F-104 Starfighter aircraft.
The control tower was inaugurated in 1977 and in 1979 the traffic increased due to the establishment, according to an order of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, of the flight for passengers with light aircraft. Therefore, Sabadell airfield was opened to national and international air traffic from that same year.
EAS Barcelona has a large office at the Sabadell airport, in the building of the new control tower, from where the fleet is managed and where the preparations of each flight and parking hangars are carried out by instructors and students. Flight sessions by our students usually depart from this airport-base.