It’s as if a compact slice of Britain has been dropped into the Mediterranean and tucked away into a tiny corner on the edge of Andalucia. Gibraltar is literally “Britain in the Sun”, complete with all the familiar UK features such as red phone boxes and the ubiquitous Marks & Spencer store.
The British Overseas Territory is probably best known for its colony of Barbary macaques, which live on the imposing Rock of Gibraltar. These monkeys are the only free-roaming wild primates in Europe. Another unusual feature is Gibraltar Airport (GIB). Its runway is crossed by Winston Churchill Avenue, the main public thoroughfare into the city. To ensure safe operations, vehicular access to and from the city is cut off when a flight takes off or lands.
This bizarre situation attracts many tourists who go out of their way to watch a flight arrive or depart. After all, how often do you get to wait at traffic lights for a roaring jet to clear your way? However, in 2023 the Airport Tunnel opened, funneling motorized traffic into Gibraltar without intersecting with the runway. For pedestrians and cyclists, the default route remains crossing the airport runway.
Measuring just 1,780 meters in length, the runway is limited by the shoreline on either side. Extensions are considered expensive. GIB is classified as a Category C facility, alongside other challenging airports such as Madeira, Innsbruck and London City. Additional training for pilots and crew is required to operate into Gibraltar.
