AENA will run Corvera
State company confirms closure of Murcia-San Javier airport
THE MANAGEMENT of Corvera airport will be handed to state airport company AENA, Murcia regional president Fernando López Miras announced on Wednesday.
He said this would be for a period of 25 years.
Sr López Miras said the procedure to sign the contract will be speeded up as much as possible so AENA could start applying for the licences and certificates to open the airport as soon as possible.
According to Sr López Miras, around one million passengers will use the airport during the first year it is in operation – a figure he claimed will rise to four million during the final years of the contract.
The decision was welcomed by AENA, which was the only bidder for the airport that has stood empty since it was completed in 2012.
An AENA spokesman admitted that the procedures to obtain the licences were ‘very complex’.
According to AENA, engineers will have to check that the facilities meet all legal requirements to operate as an airport and that the airport’s operative systems match AENA’s standards.
AENA pointed out that the equipment has to be tested and checked before the airport could start running.
The company echoed the announcement of minister for public works, Íñigo de la Serna on the closure of Murcia-San Javier airport.
The minister said that running two airports which are 23 kilometres apart made no sense and that moving civilian flights from San Ja- vier to Corvera was ‘a matter of common sense’.
AENA stressed in a press release this week that flights, staff and equipment would be moved from San Javier to Corvera airport in a coordinated manner.
However, neither AENA nor the regional government have said when this will take place and airlines are continuing to sell flights to San Javier for next summer.
Socialist party (PSOE) spokesman Joaquín López said workers at San Javier were very worried about their future and claimed that nobody had informed them of the change.
The 70 AENA employees would be moved to Corvera but the future of the hundreds of workers in supply, services and maintenance companies is unclear.
Podemos party regional deputy Andrés Pedreño also noted that the regional government has not said who will pay the €182 million loan taken out to build the airport, plus the interest and maintenance expenses since 2012.