Zaragoza Airport
Zaragoza Airport (Aragonese and ; ) is an international airport near Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain. It is located west of Zaragoza, west of Barcelona, and northeast of Madrid. In addition to serving as a major cargo airport it is also a commercial airport and the home of the Spanish Air Force 15th Group. History. During the Cold War, the United States Air Force used the facility as Zaragoza Air Base. The construction work on Zaragoza Airport began in September 1954 with the enlargement and improvement of the existing Spanish Air Force Base located there. United States Navy engineers upgraded the facility  for temporary or intermediate use as a war standby base. The first U.S. construction project included strengthening the existing runway and adding overruns at each end. Work on a new concrete runway, , with overruns at each end, began in 1956 and was completed in 1958. Zaragoza was one of three major USAF Cold War airbases in Spain, the others being Torrejón Air Base near Madrid and Morón Air Base near Seville. The airport was also used by NASA as a contingency landing site for the Space Shuttle in the case of a Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL). Zaragoza was chosen as  a NASA Space Shuttle TAL site due to its long runway, which needs be longer than 7,500 feet, and its pleasant weather. The base also has a military-grade navigation system called a TACAN—"Tactical Air Navigation"—that can adapt to the special guidance devices NASA used with its shuttles. Access. Currently, the airport is connected to the city center by a bus line (501), which goes from the Puerta del Carmen square, downtown, to the airport, also stopping at the city's main railway station: Zaragoza-Delicias. The station is an important hub for long-distance trains, AVE high-speed trains  and the commuter line of Cercanías Zaragoza, which takes passengers underground through the city and overground in the metropolitan area.