The government in Madrid has now given final approval for Murcia’s new airport at Corvera to go ahead. The project has been promoted by the regional government for many years as an alternative to the existing airport at San Javier which handles over two million (mainly British passengers) a year. The regional government has already awarded the concession to construct and operate the new Corvera airport and all that was holding up works was the final approval from the Ministry of Development. .
The construction contract and 40 year management concession has gone to Aeromur SA, who are expected to start the two year project in the summer of 2008 to be completed by 2010.. The new airport will have an initial operating capacity of 1.5 million passengers, going up to 5.2 million in 2015 and then, in a second phase of construction, increasing to 8.7 million.
It has already been announced that budget airlines have expressed strong interest in Corvera and have been in discussions with the concession operator about their needs and plans for the future. Flight operations are restricted at San Javier because of the need to share facilities with the military base nearby. At Corvera civilian flights will be able to operate 24-hours a day.
The new airport will be directly linked to the several new motorways across Murcia and to the main A7 north-south motorway. The Spanish Airport Authority AENA intends to continue operating the existing airport at San Javier and has invested heavily in constructing a second control tower and a second runway (which is completed but not yet in use).
Currently the local land owners are having their land expropriated and this is expected to be concluded soon. There is no cash bonus for them and they are only being paid the value of their land as dry stony farmland.