Alex Iszatt (Reporter)
THE Ciudad Real in La Mancha, was the star of Top Gear recently, when the three presenters visited the empty terminal building and raced their cars on the closed runway.
The building which cost €1.1bn was closed in 2012, after the management declared itself bankrupt – just four years in operation.
The airport is now in administration, and the judge has said the site needs to be sold off, and has suggested a sale of €100m. However, anyone buying the site will also have to pay the €529m debt.
The airport, 100 miles south of Madrid, has barely been used and boasts a runway long enough to land an Airbus A380 – the world’s largest airliner.
Ten million passengers a year were expected to pass through its 28,000 sq ft terminal. But It opened during one of the worst recessions ever seen, with Spain particularly hard-hit.
Caja Castilla La Mancha, which was believed to have held a 70pc stake in the airport, was the first of the country’s local savings banks to fail.
How many bloody airports did Spain think it needed !!!???
there is also one in Murcia been going to open for the last 2 years supposed to open shortly but still waiting.
there is also an adequate airport called san Javier Murcia — the bureaucracy in Spain is messy and they lost their way 30 years ago and still looking for it.
It’s not bureaucracy Peter, it’s simple corruption and plunder of E.U. funds.
They`d be as well selling off the recently completed second runway at Malaga airport, as it is almost never used and definitely not needed.
stefano – word !
Corvera airport near murcia has been completed for 18 months
bur Aena at MJV San Javier have been spending 70 million Euros
upgrading the facilities
Corvera was built by the local authority MJV is owned by the state airport Aena org
originally MJV was mainly Military so the airport had restricted flight times
now though Corvera has not got permission for flight routes
and until they reach an agreement to pay MJV they probably will not get them
nearby Paramount City a rival to Disney is susposed to be built starting later this year /this would mean more flights into the area /for PC to be viable would need tens of thousands to visit and spend money there