New Murcia Airport

[TSR2]

Over on the Ryanair thread, BleadonHell wrote:

On the subject of Murcia, the new regional airport of Murcia Province at Corvera, which is about 15 - 20 minutes drive inland from Murcia - San Javier is due to open in summer 2011, to the best of my knowledge, there are currently no airlines banging on the door to use it - except maybe FR ???

The new airport project, which is many years delayed and millions over budget had to be bailed out by the regional government when the developer ran into financial problems late last year; the project would have been stopped before completion without their intervention.

I stayed in that area in September last year but saw no sign of any airport development whatsoever.

Has anyone any further news on this airport. Is it ultimately intended to replace San Javier?

[malagajohn]

Looks like it wont open until the end of 2011.

Here are a couple of articles in Spanish from the local press

La Comunidad quiere acelerar las obras del aeropuerto - La Opinión de Murcia (http://www.laopiniondemurcia.es/comunidad/2010/06/29/comunidad-quiere-acelerar-obras-aeropuerto/255858.html)

El aeropuerto de Corvera entrará en funcionamiento a finales de 2011 (http://www.larazon.es/noticia/1620-el-aeropuerto-de-corvera-entrara-en-funcionamiento-a-finales-de-2011)

One of the historic problems that affect San Javier is the air base , with the air force getting runway priority at certain times of the day.

Whether Corvera will take over from San Javier remains to be seen - AENA calls the shots at MJV but Corvera is private . Should be interesting to watch developments

[Jamie2k9]

At the monument the current opening date for the airport in between late November 2011 and January 2012. So if Ryanair were going to use the airport it would not be until March 30 2012.

Ryanair did not cut seven of there nine routes because of a problem with Murcia-San Javier Airport. It was because of Murcian Government failing to promote tourism. Ryanair have no reason to move to the new airport unless they are planning on opening a base there but I wouldn't think they would as Alicante is so near.

[N707ZS]

Has anyone got a grid reference for the new airport I had a quick look on Google earth and could only find the town and the old LEMP airstrip.

[DjerbaDevil]

Try:
37º 47´46 78" N
1º 08´56 95" W

or the link:
Google Maps (http://maps.google.es/maps?hl=es&rlz=1W1SKPB_es&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=aeropuerto+de+corvera+murcia&fb=1&gl=es&hq=aeropuerto&hnear=Corvera,+Murcia&cid=0,0,18162593091518307310&ei=iEFXTKm-JMrX4wbkqZymBQ&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQnwIwAA)

Or google:
"aeropuerto de corvera murcia"

Quote: Murcian Government failing to promote tourism.

Incidently FR were after another "state subsidy" from the Murcia Regional Government of 18 Euros per passenger to be carried by Ryan Air to Murcia, which was quite correctly refused.
Recently, unfortunately, the Valencian Regional Government have succumbed to RyanAir's extorsion and committed 800,000 Euros of tax payers money to RyanAir's profit margin to reopen Valencia as a base, which commitment, by RyanAir, will last no longer than the money does, during the next 12 months. Then further demands will be made no doubt.

There are other private airports just opened or about to do so. The private airport Don Quijote at Ciudad real, south of Madrid is open but only being used by RyanAir three times a week for the moment and there is another airport due to open soon in Castellon, North of Valencia City. Lleida also has a new airport, which is West of Barcelona and convenient for the ski slopes.

[Charlie Roy]

International airport of the Region of Murcia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_airport_of_the_Region_of_Murcia)

[N707ZS]

Not much sign of development on those maps I presume they must be out of date.

[nonemmet]

A new parallel runway at St Javier has been under construcion for some time, is this what they are talking about ;)

[N707ZS]

No that runway has been there for at least five years and I think its active with the military jets.

[Whispering Giant]

N707ZS - the map's and the google earth image are very out of date, I was there at Easter as my parent's live in the region and there is a lot of infrastructure work going on for the airport with new motorway junctions being constructed on the A30 to allow access to the airport. Can't say what stage they are exactley at with the airport as I did'nt venture over to it. I'll have a closer nose around when I'm down there in a couple of week's time.

With ref to the new runway at St Javier, to my knowledge it's still not in regular use even though it's been there for about 5 years now - as they were/are still awaiting approval from the government department/inspectorate in order to be allowed to use it - the only thing i have a ever seen land on the new runway is a couple of light aircraft although i do believe that just after it was constructed that a Ryanair landed on it by mistake.

brgds

W.G

[Max Angle]

Hopefully when they open the new airport they will leave the ATC staff at the old one and hire some people who actually know what they are doing. Easily the most incompetent air traffic unit I have ever come across, very scary.

[nav3]

You can see some photos of it here Murcialocal (http://www.jhpinternational.com/murcia13/index.html)

it is about 4km SW of LEMP.

[wawkrk]

Had a look at Corvera yesterday.Lots of activity. I could see the new tarmac,
control tower looks be to almost finished and the terminal steel structure is now enclosed.

[TSR2]

I note they are to offer up to 50% concession in airport taxes to all airlines 'transporting millions of passengers to Spain'

I think they may have to do better than that to attract Ryanair.

[take-off]

Do all airlines get offered subsidies by the local Gov't to flying into their local airport
?

[wowzz]

According to this article:
Corvera International Airport will be completed this year | News | Simply Networking (http://www.simplynetworking.es/news_further.php?id=7662&top_id=31)
the new airport at Corvera could be finished and operational by March 2012, but being Spain I would be inclined to add at least 6 months to this date.
The big question of course, is which carriers will use it. As most UK locos have published their simmer 2012 routes, I think it unlikely that there will be any flights to/from the UK until October/November 2012 at the earliest.

[wowzz]

More news here
Corvera Airport, resignation of Director will not affect opening schedule | News | Simply Networking (http://www.simplynetworking.es/news-7718-31-corvera_airport_resignation_of_director_will_not_affect_open ing_schedule.html)

[wawkrk]

I visited the site a few months ago. It was a hive of activity. The runway seems to be finished and I could see taxiways. The terminal is now also very advanced.
Having said all that, I have read on Spanish forums that Corvera will never open. Other new airports have been built in Spain over the last few years and then abandoned.

This was posted on another forum.
San Javier originally had problems with military restrictions imposed Monday to Friday by the air force for pilot training. No airlines were allowed to use San Javier between 08:00 and 15:00. The only outbound flight that left before 08:00 was the daily commuter flight by Air Nostrum/Iberia to Madrid. No inbound flights arrived until after 15:00.

Since the opening of a second runway and new control tower at San Javier in March of this year, these restrictions have now been removed. Airlines are now able to use the airport throughout the day without any restrictions.

Its worth pointing out with regards to San Javier that Government run AENA have appointed a new Managing Director to run the airport within the last couple of weeks and he has been given more money to spend on improving the airport airside.

The issue about it being built in a military only restricted airspace was raised by Spanish Unions this March, who presented to a media conference a copy of the airspace map for the region with the restriction clearly marked. The full associated article can be found here:-
http://www.laverdad.es/murcia/v/2011033 ... 10330.html

In summary of the article - Workers' Commissions (CCOO) said yesterday that the new Corvera International Airport will be "like Castellón. This is an airspace" restricted "to any flight except the military that includes the region of Murcia and runs 30 kilometers from Alicante, Albacete, Granada and Almeria.

Someone has commented on the net that the military continue to refuse access to civil aircraft in the Corvera airspace. Apparently it is also a parachute drop area.

Its planned to operate 24hrs aday, yet they only built a single runway which was extended further than planned to accomodate A380s. The proposed flight path to the airport has a steep angle of decent due to the surrounding mountain terrain.

interesting reading Express.co.uk - Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | Other Sport :: Deacon can shine (http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/250) ... n-billions

wawkrk