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October 5, 2014Fuerteventura Airport – Spotting Guide
- last modified on November 20, 2023
Canary’s fifth busiest airport – Fuerteventura – lives up to its name as strong gustings and stiff gales cater for some compelling adventures! The airport of this fascinating island is mainly headed by holiday charter traffic from France, the UK, Germany and from The Netherlands.
The history of this airport began in 1969 when the airport was opened up, originally built to replace the old military base serving the island for its defensive plan, but which was closed due to its large distance to the capital and bad wind conditions (Offical translation of the Island’s name: Fuerte ventura = strong wind) affecting the air traffic.
A Fokker 50 inaugurated the new airport with domestic services, respectively island hoppers to Fuerteventura’s neighbour islands. Then, in 1973, first international flights were commenced, and a holiday trend was set at the same time! FUE suddenly bursted at all seems as it received more and more passengers. As a consequence of that, the aerodrome was expanded and adopted its today’s shape. Nowadays, the airport is one of the busiest in Spain, handling 5.6 million passengers.
Written by Marlin/Jonas Lehmann, Gary Culpan, Alan Jackson and Nicola von Moos. Last change: September 2022 (Spot 7, 10 and 11 added).
| Rating | |
| Movements |  |
| Airline Variety |  |
| Photo Locations | |
| Weather | |
| Airport Information | |
| Runways | |
| 01/19 | 3.400m (11,175ft) |
| Terminals | One for all airlines |
| Spotting Information | |
| Ladder | At point 7 and 3 a ladder is needed. |
| Car/Public Transport | Car is absolutely necessary except you stay in a hotel in the village Costa de Antigua. |
| Restrooms | Available at all publicly accessible buildings like restaurants or inside the terminal building |
| Drinks/Food | There is a supermarket nearby the airport and food is available inside the airport’s terminals. There are no restaurants outside of the Terminal. Restaurants are available in Puerto del Rosario. |
| Hotels | We recommend to take a hotel in the village Costa de Antigua as there are a few options to take photos from the 01 approach with the use of a car. |
| Season | The Canary Islands are busiest during the spring/summer season and during winter peak times for the respective countries. |
| Runway Usage | |
| 01/19 | 01 is in use almost always. Use of 19 is very rare. |
Bus Terminal Mound - Taxiway, 01 Departures
| WHERE | There is a huge unused area next to the terminal’s bus bay, which is elevated and offers a perfect sight of the runway and taxiway. To get there exit the terminal and walk northwards to the bus bay. Pass some small glass buildings and turn right at the end. Now just climb up the mound to reach the unpaved area. |
| WHAT | Arrivals on 01 when the use the taxiway to the terminal. 01 Departures and 19 Arrivals (heat!) |
| TIME | From afternoon to sunset all year round. |
| MISC. | Parking is not allowed on this unused area. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Runway operations: B737: 240mm; B757: 190mm, taxiing back to the gate: A320: 160mm; B753: 120mm |
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- Glass Building/Bus parking
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- Way up the mound
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- View from the mound
Helipad - Apron
| WHERE | Spot 5 is located near the entrance to the airfield and in easy walking distance from Spot 1. |
| WHAT | All apron movements. View may be limited due to parked airplanes at busy peak times. There is also the helipad infront of the spot. |
| TIME | From mid-morning to early afternoon all year round. |
| MISC. | You have to take photos thru the fence. A ladder is not advisable as the security service is nearby and keeps an eye onto the airfield entrance. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Depends on distance – The Austrian jet was taxiing into a secluded parking position forcing more focal length. But 150mm are required in average. |
Cargo Terminal - Ramp, taxiway and runway
| WHERE | The sopt is located on the north and south side of the ‘Terminal de Carga’, accessable through a street running parallel to FV-2. When coming from the airport terminal’s, follow street course until entrance to El Mattoral which begins at a roundabout. Exit the roundabout at its fourth exit (Terminal de Carga – Air Cargo Terminal) and turn off to the left. Now follow the parallel running street until the terminal building appears on your right. Now ou can stay south of the cargo terminal, point A for the ramp, or follow the street a bit further up until the cargo building for taxiway shots. |
| WHAT | From point A: Business jets being parked up at the VIP apron. Runway operations are visible but gear of the airplanes are hidden due to lumpy airfield surface. From point B: All movements on taxiway and runway can be observed from here. 19 departures may be too high. |
| TIME | From afternoon to sunset all year round. Heat haze is a massive problem during noon, way better in ‘colder hours’ so towards evening. Photo was taken in the afternoon so heat haze is quite strong. |
| MISC. | Nothing special to mention at this spot. Ladder is neede but shooting through the mesh is possible due to the distance of the object. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70mm for an E135 70-30mm – Airbus A319: 175mm |
Point A:
Point B:
Dirt Road - 01 Arrivals
| WHERE | Coming from the south on the FV2 use the same exit like you did for spot #3 but don’t turn right into the unpaved road. Instead turn left into the road that passes the approach path. Continue for a few meters. From the north just continue on the road from spot#2 that runs along the perimeter. Or from the FV2 use the third exit on the first roundabout after you have passed the terminal. |
| WHAT | Arrivals on 01 only. |
| TIME | From afternoon to sunset all year round. |
| MISC. | Be careful whilst driving here. Nothing nearby. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 753 = 100mm; 737 = 150mm |
Dirt Road - 01 Line-up
| WHERE | Right under approach path – accessable through an unpaved road snapping off from FV-2. Check map for further details. Spot is located in the S-band before the road goes parallel. |
| WHAT | Line-up’s onto runway 01. Landing aircraft are passing overhead right above you. |
| TIME | From sunrise until noon all year round. |
| MISC. | There are holes in the fence |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70-30mm – 100mm for an A320; 110mm for a Boeing 737 |
Ruins - 01 movements
| WHERE | This spot is not to be missed as you can clearly recognize a ruin of stones which enables you to look over the airport fence. The ruin is immediately on your right as soon as you are parallel to the runway at the unpaved road as described at Spot 3 and 6. Check the map for further details. Its also possible to go down to the fence where you can shoot through holes in the fence. The red line shows you access route to this spot. Only enter the road with a suitable car for this terrain as set out at the warning label. |
| WHAT | All runway operations of runway 01. Landing aircraft are still high as the landing zone at FUE begins very late. |
| TIME | From sunrise until noon all year round. |
| MISC. | Be careful when climbing up the ruin as the stones are not fix and wobbly. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 70-400mm – 70mm for a Boeing 757; ATR: 130mm; 80mm for a landing Boeing 757 |
Radar - All movements
| WHERE | Follow street course of spot 4 for about 1.7km until a large radar is on your left snapping off to the right. Check map for further details. |
| WHAT | All runway operations of runway 01/19 |
| TIME | From sunrise until noon all year round. |
| MISC. | A ladder is required here. Airplanes are very close |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-200mm – 70mm for narrow body sized jets at 90° angle, a Boeing 757 at 55mm |
FV-413 - 01 Arrivals
| WHERE | From the main road FV-1 follow the direction to FV-413 Triquivijate/Antigua from the roundabout. After 100-200 meters park on the side of the road and search for your favorite position in this area. The location can be reached by foot from the nearby hotels in the village Costa de Antigua. It is a 20-30 minutes walk, depends on where you stay. |
| WHAT | Arrivals on 01 only. |
| TIME | From afternoon to sunset all year round. |
| MISC. | Be prepared with water and sun protection as there is no shade! There is a Lidl supermarket at the main road. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Around 200mm for A320/737 |
Hill - 01 Arrivals
| WHERE | The spot is on a top of a hill with some kind of memorial. Head to the village Costa de Antigu from the main road FV-2 and before the town entrance the hill is on the left hand side. It can’t me missed. Park at the end of C. Artesano Paquito Batista and walk up the hill. The location is also easy to reach by foot from the nearby hotels. |
| WHAT | Arrivals on 01 only. |
| TIME | From sunrise until noon all year round. |
| MISC. | Be prepared with water and sun protection as there is no shade! |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Around 200mm for A320/737 |
Globales Costa Tropical Hotel - 01 Arrivals
| WHERE | Some rooms of the Globales Costa Tropical Hotel in the village of Costa de Antigua offering a nice view from their balconies. Ask for rooms 180-100 on the top floor on the left side of the hotel, facing west towards the mountains. Rooms 222-200 on the right side of the hotel faces north is possible as well. |
| WHAT | Arrivals on 01 only. Be aware of heat distortion due to the distance. If it is getting too much you can walk to spot 11. |
| TIME | From sunrise until noon all year round. |
| MISC. | You are in a hotel, so everythin you need is around the corner. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Around 400mm for A320/737 |
Hi Julian.
An update to your guide for Fuerteventura. I was there for a week in July and stayed at the Elba Lucia Sport & Suite Hotel in Neuvo Horizonte. From the 3rd floor (rooms 335 to 343) there is a good view of the approach although there is the usual problem of heat haze as the day gets hotter. Used a 300 mm lens but 400 mm would be better. Light is good from sunrise to about 2 pm then becomes back lit. I was in room 343 and the attached pictures were taken from the balcony. There is a small shop in the hotel or a larger supermarket a 5 min walk away for drinks and snacks. Hope pictures are attached as I can not see any indication they are.
Fuerteventura is not third busiest airport in Canary Islands.
LPA, TFS, TFN and ACE are all busier.
You are correct. The guide is already 4 years old and the numbers were from 2016.
I have fixed it.
-Julian