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Built between 2008 and 2012, Spain has a ghost airport lying empty toward the east of the country. The Región de Murcia International Airport looks finally set to open in January 2019.

Murcia’s new airport has become infamous within aviation circles for a number of reasons. The airport will officially operate flights from the 15th of January 2019. This follows the closure of the nearby San Javier airport to commercial traffic on the 14th January. The plan is that overnight everything will switch. Airlines, passengers, and staff will all go to the new airport operated by Aena.

Airlines

There are currently 8 airlines flying to Murcia San Javier Airport. This includes year round operators Easy Jet, Ryanair, Travel Service, and TUI fly Belgium. Also flying to the airport are seasonal operators Aer Lingus, British Airways, Jet2, and Norwegian. While the new airport’s operators are reportedly in negotiations with 3 airlines, EasyJet and Jet2 have already committed to using the new airport. According to the airport’s website “The companies Iberia Express and Ryanair have also shown interest to Aena.” The airport went on to add “Scheduled flights from the 15th of January 2019 will transfer to Corvera Airport, with Jet2 and Easyjet already announced that they will be operating from the airport from 2019.”

Services Still Being Set Up

While the date of the opening now set in stone, it is hopeful that another of Europe’s ghost airports will finally see operations. There are still some hurdles to overcome though. The details for transferring staff from one airport to another have yet to be ironed out. In addition, with the new airport still in negotiations about flights with many airlines, they are yet to confirm a bus schedule. The airport has however finalised contracts for 12 shops, falconry and meteorological services for the field.

About The Airport

Upon opening, the airport should have a capacity for three million travellers from up to 23,000 movements per year. The only passenger terminal at the airport is 28,500m². This space houses 25 check in desks, 9 gates, and 4 luggage reclaim belts. The airport’s runway is 3,000m by 45m, and has the orientation of 05/23. Runway 23 has an ILS precision approach.

Other Ghost Airports

The Región de Murcia International Airport isn’t the only ghost airport to become infamous in Europe. The other that immediately springs to mind it Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport. Originally slated to open in 2006, the airport has had a total of 22 different proposed opening dates. The official date of opening is currently set at 2020, however, many wonder if the airport will ever open. Due to the lack of aviation at the airport, it is being used for a number of other things. Guests can go on a bike tour of the airport, while car manufacturers are using the multi-storey car parks to store new vehicles. It was recently announced that the information screens would have to be replaced in Berlin’s new airport because they had reached the end of their useful life despite not having been used.

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While past experience shows that opening even part of a new airport can go drastically wrong (think back to the opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow), we wish the new Murcia Airport the best of luck!