Laayoune Hassan I International Airport (El Aaiún) (GMML / EUN)

Western Sahara · elevation 207 ft AMSL · 27.1425, -13.2249 · Local time: --:--:-- · UTC time: --:--:--

About Laayoune Hassan I International Airport (El Aaiún)

Laayoune Hassan I International Airport (El Aaiún) is an airport with the ICAO code GMML and the IATA code EUN. Country: Western Sahara. Nearest settlement listed in the database: El Aaiún. OurAirports classifies it as a large airport. Its ICAO code starts with the GM prefix, which marks airports in Western Sahara. The four-letter code GMML is used in flight operations and weather reports, while the three-letter IATA code EUN is used for ticketing and baggage handling. The airport reference point sits at 27°08'33"N, 13°13'30"W, at an elevation of 207 ft (63 m) above sea level. The applicable time zone is Africa/El_Aaiun.

Satellite view of GMML

Aerial imagery showing the runway and apron layout - the zoom is matched to the longest runway.

Open the satellite view in Google Maps

Runways of GMML

ThresholdCourseLengthWidthSurface
0220°2,701 m (8,861 ft)45 m (148 ft)asphalt
20200°
0440°2,500 m (8,202 ft)45 m (148 ft)asphalt
22220°

The course is derived from the runway designator (number × 10), not from a survey - the actual magnetic bearing can differ by a few degrees.

Declared distances (TORA, TODA, ASDA, LDA) are published in the national AIP - they are not part of this table.

Climate at Laayoune Hassan I International Airport (El Aaiún) - statistics from METAR reports

What the METAR reports from GMML for 2023-2025 show - counted hour by hour.

We computed these statistics from 25,188 METAR reports issued by GMML in 2023-2025. VFR conditions prevailed 15% of the time, MVFR 79% and IFR or LIFR 6%. Best month for VFR flying: January (27% of hours VFR). Most IFR and LIFR hours: February (10%).

Through the day, IFR or LIFR conditions are most frequent around 07:00 UTC (10% of reports at that hour) and least frequent around 22:00 UTC (2%).

Fog (FG) was reported on 21 days a year on average, most often in November. Thunderstorms (TS) occurred on 1.7 days a year on average, and snowfall practically never.

The wind most often blows from NNE (23°) - 30% of reports. Calm (0 kt) made up <1% of reports, and gusts of 25 kt or more appeared in <1%. Warmest month: August (average high 32.8 °C); coldest: January (average low 12.9 °C).

Year

Selected period in numbers: 2023-2025

VFR hours
15%
IFR/LIFR hours
6%
Avg high
28.3 °C
Avg low
17.2 °C
Fog days
21
Thunderstorm days
1.7
Snow days
0
Prevailing wind
NNE · 30%
Gusts ≥ 25 kt
<1%

Day counts are for the selected period (for all years - the yearly average).

Flight categories month by month
Bar chart: share of VFR, MVFR, IFR and LIFR hours in each month0%25%50%75%100%January: VFR 27%, MVFR 68%, IFR 3%, LIFR 2%JanFebruary: VFR 15%, MVFR 75%, IFR 7%, LIFR 3%FebMarch: VFR 22%, MVFR 73%, IFR 4%, LIFR 2%MarApril: VFR 10%, MVFR 84%, IFR 5%, LIFR 1%AprMay: VFR 15%, MVFR 84%, IFR 1%, LIFR <1%MayJune: VFR 9%, MVFR 88%, IFR 3%, LIFR <1%JunJuly: VFR 4%, MVFR 86%, IFR 9%, LIFR 1%JulAugust: VFR 1%, MVFR 89%, IFR 9%, LIFR 1%AugSeptember: VFR 20%, MVFR 76%, IFR 3%, LIFR <1%SeptOctober: VFR 20%, MVFR 76%, IFR 3%, LIFR 1%OctNovember: VFR 20%, MVFR 73%, IFR 4%, LIFR 3%NovDecember: VFR 16%, MVFR 79%, IFR 4%, LIFR 1%Dec
  • VFR 15%
  • MVFR 79%
  • IFR 5%
  • LIFR 1%
Temperature month by month
Chart: average daily high and low temperature in each month0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°January: 12.9 … 25.1 °C2513JanFebruary: 13.5 … 25.0 °C2514FebMarch: 14.5 … 26.4 °C2615MarApril: 16.4 … 27.3 °C2716AprMay: 17.2 … 27.0 °C2717MayJune: 19.4 … 28.6 °C2919JunJuly: 20.9 … 31.3 °C3121JulAugust: 21.7 … 32.8 °C3322AugSeptember: 20.2 … 31.0 °C3120SeptOctober: 19.7 … 30.7 °C3120OctNovember: 16.9 … 29.1 °C2917NovDecember: 13.2 … 24.8 °C2513Dec

The top of each bar is the average daily high, the bottom the average daily low (usually around dawn), in °C.

Wind rose: how often the wind blows from each of 16 directions10%20%30%40%N: 16%NNE: 30%NE: 22%ENE: 5%E: 4%ESE: 3%SE: 3%SSE: 1%S: 1%SSW: 1%SW: 1%WSW: 1%W: 2%WNW: 1%NW: 2%NNW: 5%NNNENEENEEESESESSESSSWSWWSWWWNWNWNNWNNE 30%

Wind rose

  • 1-10 kt
  • 11-20 kt
  • over 20 kt
  • calm: <1%

Most often: NNE - 30% of reports. Each petal shows the direction the wind blows from (as in METAR) - the longer it is, the more often. Colour shows wind speed.

Month by month

MonthAvg high °CAvg low °CVFRIFR/LIFRFog daysThunderstorm daysSnow days
January25.112.927%5%3.300
February25.013.515%10%2.300
March26.414.522%5%2.700
April27.316.410%6%0.300
May27.017.215%1%0.300
June28.619.49%3%0.700
July31.320.94%10%000
August32.821.71%10%10.30
September31.020.220%4%0.700
October30.719.720%4%300
November29.116.920%7%510
December24.813.216%5%20.30

Temperatures are averages of daily highs and lows. Day counts are the average per month over the period.

More in the METAR Academy: VFR, MVFR, IFR, LIFR flight categories, fog in METAR

Source: routine METAR reports from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet archive (Iowa State University), 2023-2025. Flight categories use the FAA thresholds, widely used as a convention. A day counts when it has at least 12 reports. These are statistics of past conditions - not a forecast or a substitute for a pre-flight briefing.

Runways at GMML

According to OurAirports data (compiled from AIP and FAA sources), Laayoune Hassan I International Airport (El Aaiún) has 2 runways: 02/20 - 2,701 m long (8,861 ft), 45 m wide, asphalt surface; 04/22 - 2,500 m long (8,202 ft), 45 m wide, asphalt surface.

The longest of them is 02/20, at 2,701 m.

Runway headings and wind

The thresholds are oriented as follows: 02/20 on 20° and 200° magnetic, 04/22 on 40° and 220° magnetic. A threshold designator is its magnetic heading divided by ten (ICAO Annex 14), so the runway axis can be read straight off the numbers.

For the 02/20 axis, wind from the east (around 110°) or from the west (around 290°) blows perpendicular to the runway and produces the largest crosswind component. Wind from around 20° or 200° acts along the runway, as a headwind or a tailwind. The decoder on this page computes those components automatically from the current METAR.

METAR and TAF for GMML

Weather reports for Laayoune Hassan I International Airport (El Aaiún) are published under the ICAO code GMML. A METAR is an observation of current conditions, usually issued every 30 or 60 minutes; a TAF is a forecast for the airport area, typically covering 9 to 30 hours.

The decoder breaks the GMML report down into its parts: wind direction and speed including gusts and variability, visibility (including CAVOK and directional minimum visibility), weather phenomena by WMO code, cloud layers with their bases, temperature and dew point, QNH pressure, and the resulting flight category - VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR - using FAA thresholds.

Not every airport issues its own reports; many smaller airfields have no weather station. If no current data is available for GMML, check the nearby airports listed below.

Reports always use UTC (the Z suffix). The Africa/El_Aaiun zone stays at GMT+01:00 year-round, so converting to local time is always the same shift.

The closest airports in the database, measured in a straight line from the reference point, are Jarde Airport (Antigua) (GCAT, 158 km), Fuerteventura Airport (Puerto del Rosario) (GCFV, 159 km), Smara Airport (GMMA, 159 km). When no report is available for GMML, they usually give the best approximation of conditions in the area.

METAR Academy

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Nearby airports

Looking for a report from a specific day?

The METAR archive for GMML goes back to 01/06/1961. Pick a date and see every observation from that day.

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