The construction of this new heliport is because of the need for Alt Urgell -and in particular, La Seu d’Urgell- to have an air emergency service with H24 coverage, taking into account the proximity of Andorra and the lack of a solution for this type of emergency. The heliport will be located outside of Andorra-La Seu d’Urgell Airport, which will allow the operation of helicopters only at night to respond to health and forestry emergencies. The current airport allows the operation of aircraft – including any type of helicopter – between sunrise and sunset, with visual procedures. Therefore, it is for daytime use only.
With this new infrastructure, during the day the airport runway will do all operations, keeping the new heliport inoperative, while during the night, the airport would remain closed and the heliport will be activated. This operational strategy will lead to the optimization of the necessary resources of the set.
The fleet of helicopters that will normally operate in the new heliport will be the one used by the Catalan emergency services (SEM), although it is to be expected that other helicopters from other state or Andorran services will also occasionally operate there.
The new heliport of Andorra-La Seu d’Urgell Airport has been chosen for the administrations -Catalan and Andorran-, as of strategic interest, with the mission of providing service to night emergencies, thus complementing the functionality of the current infrastructure. This decision is part of the agreement signed on June 15, 2018 between the SEM and the Andorran Health Care Service.
The cost of the works is estimated at € 155,000 and the estimated time to complete the work from the time it is tendered is 3 and a half months, so the work is expected to be completed by the end of summer.
From the second half of May, Andorra-La Seu d’Urgell Airport will have the permanent base of the Special Actions Group (GRAE), guaranteeing a rescue unit in the Alt Pirineu, although will continue to use the base of Tírvia (Pallars Sobirà) to improve the territorial coverage on the days with the highest influx of people in the mountains.
