Santiago de Compostela Airport Closure: Thousands of Brits to be impacted, dates Spanish airport to shut

For those of you who were planning to fly to Santiago de Compostela-Rosalía de Castro Airport in Spain, you might need to rethink your travels as the airport is to close for over a month. During this period where runway renovations and upgrades will take place, no flights will arrive or depart from the airport.

In January of this year, a passenger posted in the Facebook group for Camino de Santiago and wrote that while she was trying to book flights, she discovered that the airport would be closed. In response, one person wrote: “Yes that’s why I’m flying in and out of Vigo.”

Santiago–Rosalía de Castro Airport, known as Santiago de Compostela Airport, was previously named Lavacolla Airport and its address is Lavacolla S/N, 15820, A Coruña in Spain. The nearest airport to Santiago–Rosalía de Castro Airport is A Coruña.

Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, is best known for being a renowned UNESCO World Heritage city and is primarily known as the final destination of the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James) pilgrimage route. Every year, the city hosts thousands of pilgrims in its cathedral in the Praza do Obradoiro.

Airlines that fly from the UK to Santiago de Compostela-Rosalía de Castro Airport in Spain include British Airways, Ryanair, Vueling and Iberia. Around 30 flights depart there from London Stansted, London Heathrow and London Gatwick.

A statement on the Aena website reads: “Santiago de Compostela-Rosalía de Castro Airport will be closed from 23 April to 27 May 2026 for runway renovation works.”

In October last year, Ryanair announced that it will reduce its Summer 2026 schedule to Regional Spain by 1.2m seats. In a statement, the airline said: “Ryanair will also stop all flights to/from Asturias Airport, as the Aena Monopoly continues to raise its uncompetitive airport fees at Spanish (mostly empty) regional airports.

“These regrettable cuts follow Ryanair’s 1m seat cuts to Regional Spain for Winter 2025, and are a direct result of the Spanish Govt’s failure to stop Aena’s monopoly fee increases, particularly at under-used Regional airports, and its failure to reverse Minister Bustinduy’s illegal bag fines, despite promising to do so. While Minister Bustinduy continues to illegally interfere in the pricing of low-fare airlines (in breach of EU law), he refuses to take any action against overcharging by a number of Spanish OTAs (online travel agencies) who continue to overcharge and harm unsuspecting Spanish consumers.”