In 2017, the airport handled 571,184 passengers and 302,094 kg of cargo on 4,888 total flights. Winston Churchill Avenue (the main road heading towards the land border with Spain) intersects the airport runway, and consequently has to be closed every time a plane lands or departs. The History Channel programme "Most Extreme Airports" ranked the airport the fifth most extreme airport in the world, ahead of the now-defunct Kai Tak Airport with its infamous right-hand turn approach over central Hong Kong before landing, but behind Princess Juliana International Airport, famous for its low-altitude approaches over a public beach. It is exposed to strong cross winds around the rock and across the Bay of Algeciras, making landings in winter particularly uncomfortable.