SPAIN. Spain is building its first private airport 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Madrid in a bid to lure budget airlines away from the capital.
The airport, expected to be operational from the second half of 2006, is being built on the plains of La Mancha, the region made-famous by Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote and will be named after the windmill-tilting knight.
The new airport – being financed by private-public company CR Aeropuertos – is following a strategy similar to London Luton Airport, which challenges London’s Heathrow and Gatwick, particularly in the budget flight market. It is also similar to Charleroi, which at 46 kilometres (29 miles) south of Brussels, is close enough to the city to attract 1.8 million passengers last year.
Don Quixote Airport is to try to attract low-cost airlines with lower tariffs and flexible timetables. A high-speed train link connects Ciudad Real with central Madrid in 45 minutes, making it a viable alternative to the capital.
“Mainly it is charter or budget companies that are approaching us who want alternative sites near major centres,” Tomas Herrera, managing director of construction firm CR Aeropuertos told Reuters in an interview.
He said CR was in the final stages of talks with 10 to 15 carriers, of which only three were major airlines. easyJet and Ryanair are said to be interested.
But Herrera added that the airport, with capacity for two million passengers a year did not want to focus entirely on low-cost airlines. It is also catering for US flights and expects 700,000 passengers in the first year and 1.5 million in the third year of operation.
CR Aeropuertos’s shareholders include local authorities and the regional chamber of commerce. Spanish utility company Iberdrola has an 11% stake. The company expects to invest €220 million (US$263 million) in the project, including EU funding.
Herrera said several foreign companies had shown interest in providing services at the airport.
