Ciudad Real Central Airport (ICAO: LERL) is an airport in South Ciudad Real (Spain). It is located adjacent to the A43 highway and a short distance from the AP41 toll highway and will have a connection to the Madrid-Seville high speed train line, making it the first Spanish airport accessed via the AVE system, 50 minutes from downtown Madrid, 50 minutes from Córdoba, and less than 2 hours from Seville and Málaga. It is the first international private airport in Spain. The airport construction project had a budget of 1.1 billion euro.
It was previously known as Don Quijote Airport and South Madrid Airport.
Current Situation
The airport has turned out to be a financial disaster so far. Due to poor planning and overoptimism on the part of large financial investors major deficiencies in the early planning stages were overlooked. A single airline has signed up to fly out of the airport and none of the potential airlines that were considered were actually interested in utilizing the airport. The actual passenger traffic has measured in the low thousands, compared to the anticipated traffic of up to 10 million. The future outlook looks equally bleak. The airport has contributed significantly to the financial trouble of the creditor institutions.
Cancelled Routes
Up until the 11th of November 2010, the airport serviced flights from London Stansted with the low cost carrier Ryanair carrying approximately 22,000 passengers. This link was an important international link for the city and the province of Ciudad Real but also to the community of Castilla-La Mancha. The route operated 3 times weekly, but due to a breakdown in trade agreements with Ryanair and financial difficulties of the airport, the route was cancelled. 20 jobs were lost in the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment