Santiago de Compostela Airport is located in the historical region of Galicia in Spain, in the northwest Iberian Peninsula. The international airport is located 12 km from the city of Santiago de Compostela, in the parish of Lavacolla. The well know Christian pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago passes close to the airport.

Passenger numbers (2,724,750 passengers in 2018) have grown considerably, having more than doubled since 2000, and it is no surprise that the international Santiago de Compostela airport is now the second busiest in Northern Spain after Bilbao Airport. Ryanair serves the highest number of routes out of Santiago de Compostela Airport, flying to 13 different destinations, with Vueling Airlines serving 10 European cities.

Construction of the airport dates back to 1935, with the first scheduled flights out of Santiago de Compostela Airport starting in 1937. A new terminal was built in 1969, with several expansions added since then. A cargo terminal was added in 1981, allowing Santiago de Compostela Airport to handle cargo flights. VIASA, a Venezuelan airline, operated a non-stop service from Simón Bolívar International Airport to Santiago de Compostela Airport in the 1990s.

Santiago de Compostela Airport currently only has one terminal in operation, with the old terminal closing and all flight operations transferring to the new terminal on the night of 13 October 2011. The new terminal has been designed to handle up to 4 million passengers per year, and is expected to be expanded sometime in the future.