Airways April 2010 - British Airways Virtual

© Brian T Richards
Ándalus Líneas Aéreas EMB-145 EC-KXQ arriving in Gibraltar from Madrid
particularly within the
Iberian Peninsula. In order
to achieve this goal it was
argued that an agreement
would need to be reached
with Spain to allow such
services and that the airport
infrastructure would need to
be updated. Madrid had
been an intermediate stop
on flights to London
operated by BEA from the
late 1940s and indeed
strangely the Spanish capital
continued to be served by
BEA (and later British
Airways) from The Rock
until 1979, ten years after
the land frontier had been
closed. In 1986 an
agreement was drafted
which would allow Spain to
share the use of the airport
and participate in the control
of local airspace. The
proposal was deeply
unpopular and was never
implemented. For the next
twenty years Spanish
operating restrictions were
to cause major headaches
“
The proposal
was deeply
unpopular
and was
never
implemented
”
for airlines flying to
Gibraltar. For example, in
the event of poor visibility
in Gibraltar aircraft
diverting to Málaga were
forbidden from flying
direct to The Rock when
conditions improved. They
would have had to return
to the UK from Málaga or
would have required an
additional landing in
Tangier before setting
down in Gibraltar.
The sovereignty dispute
over Gibraltar raises
formidable passions on
both sides of the argument
(and indeed the frontier)
and it is for this reason
that the negotiations
started in 1986 finally
came to fruition twenty
years later. On September
18 2006, as part of a
tripartite agreement signed
in Córdoba, the
governments of Gibraltar,
the UK and Spain decided
to put the sovereignty
issue to one side and to
implement improved crossborder
relations through a
number of practical
measures. The most notable
of these was Spain’s
agreement to lift its
objections to the operation
of commercial flights
between Gibraltar and EU
airports. At the same time
operational rules limiting
access over Spanish airspace
were also relaxed. Under a
complex logistical solution
which used Geneva airport
as a model, it was agreed
that passengers travelling to
The Rock’s airport from
Madrid or other Spanish
destinations to Spain would
not have to clear customs
and immigration controls in
Gibraltar and would be
treated as arriving within the
Schengen area. As an
interim measure, a bus
connection for these
passengers was provided to
the bus terminus in La Línea
de la Concepción on the
Spanish side of the frontier.