# "Ghost Airport" to open to flights



## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Well I never - Spain's infamous "ghost airport", Castellon, is to begin operating at last, although initially only to private aircraft. Charter flights are expected to be using the airport by March 2015, in time for next year's summer season.


El primer avión podría llegar al aeropuerto de Castellón antes de acabar la semana - elEconomista.es

Of course, it remains to be seen whether it will prove profitable or not. But I've often seen it touted as a sign of Spain's utter economic hopelessness by those who hold that view, so any signs of life are welcome. 

And also in the news today is the fact that Renfe's income from AVE services has increased by 6% this year - another thing the doomsters saw as an ill advised investment.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Good to see the AVE's finances improving, but I still have my doubts about Castellón airport being anything other than a product of a corrupt and failed system that let council planners build what they liked, regardless of the financial viability.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Are they going to leave the 20-tonne copper statue of former Castellon president Carlos Fabra outside the airport? Might be a little embarrassing now that he´s behind bars for fraud!


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

The Skipper said:


> Are they going to leave the 20-tonne copper statue of former Castellon president Carlos Fabra outside the airport? Might be a little embarrassing now that he´s behind bars for fraud!


Pity they didn't melt that statue down to make the bars


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

A 20 tonne copper statue? And it's still there?

The metal thieves up there must be slacking, imagine how much that would have fetched for scrap, compared to a few puny rolls of cable!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Lynn R;5958305
Of course said:


> But I've often seen it touted as a sign of Spain's utter economic hopelessness by those who hold that view[/COLOR], so any signs of life are welcome.
> 
> And also in the news today is the fact that Renfe's income from AVE services has increased by 6% this year - another thing the doomsters saw as an ill advised investment.


I feel a finger pointing my way, do I not?
It's difficult to know how Castellón airport can be seen as anything but "a sign of Spain's utter economic hoplessness" when millions, literally, were spent on its construction, when thousands are spent on its maintenence and security even now, and not a euro has been obtained *from* it since the day it was opened in March 2011.

It would be good if someone, somewhere could get some use out of it, but I can't see it's going to be turning a profit any time soo, not unless someone melts down that statue!

The problem with the AVE from my point of view is the route that has been taken in some cases - whizzing past some towns and ploughing through countryside.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> I feel a finger pointing my way, do I not?
> It's difficult to know how Castellón airport can be seen as anything but "a sign of Spain's utter economic hoplessness" when millions, literally, were spent on its construction, when thousands are spent on its maintenence and security even now, and not a euro has been obtained *from* it since the day it was opened in March 2011.
> 
> It would be good if someone, somewhere could get some use out of it, but I can't see it's going to be turning a profit any time soo, not unless someone melts down that statue!
> ...


No, in this case your paranoia is unfounded, I didn't have you in mind, honestly

In common with a lot of other things, like the ghost housing developments, I think it was planned and built at a time when nobody saw the global crash coming and they thought they were anticipating meeting growing demand and creating the capacity for expansion. But then we all know what happened.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> No, in this case your paranoia is unfounded, I didn't have you in mind, honestly
> 
> In common with a lot of other things, like the ghost housing developments, I think it was planned and built at a time when nobody saw the global crash coming and they thought they were anticipating meeting growing demand and creating the capacity for expansion. But then we all know what happened.


Good, I'm glad the paranoia is unfounded, but I do thhink you're being too kind Lynn. That airport was not planned thinking about growing demand and expansion. It wasn't planned at all beyond being the perfect way to build something that would allow people in the know to cream off vast amounts of money to line private pockets


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## Justina (Jan 25, 2013)

*Money*



Pesky Wesky said:


> Good, I'm glad the paranoia is unfounded, but I do thhink you're being too kind Lynn. That airport was not planned thinking about growing demand and expansion. It wasn't planned at all beyond being the perfect way to build something that would allow people in the know to cream off vast amounts of money to line private pockets


Laundering money. At the last count some 75 PP are up on charges for defrauding. In Mexico where I lived it has always been known that construction is the easy way to move money. In the 1985 earthquake in Mexico, the government buildings in the centre of the city suffered the worst assaults. Why? Cos the basic structures were missing the required iron bars and requisite amount of cement that has to be used.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Just an observation, but earlier this year I was discussing the Castellon airport saga with a family friend, a retired Spanish doctor in his eighties. When he was a young man, living in Albacete, he said there was a lot of debate about the “crazy” plans to build an airport at Alicante. The airport now handles about 10 million passengers a year.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Good, I'm glad the paranoia is unfounded, but I do thhink you're being too kind Lynn. That airport was not planned thinking about growing demand and expansion. It wasn't planned at all beyond being the perfect way to build something that would allow people in the know to cream off vast amounts of money to line private pockets


Yes, although I should add that even if the planners involved were not corrupt, the system in Spain presses them into building as much as possible anyway, since that's where the councils get a large chunk of their revenue. Add stupidly low interest rates due to the euro into the mix, along with crazy, no-questions-asked lending by idiotic bankers, coupled with the complete lack of regulation in Spain, and the fact that planners could sit on the boards of local cajas and effectively lend to their own companies while also awarding themselves planning permission, with conflicts of interest all over the place, the outcome was inevitable....


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## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

Wow, there is maybe hope yet for another of Spain's great white elephants - namely Malaga's second runway! :confused2:Mind you, I saw one plane land on it a week past Thursday lol lane:.

To think that many gave up their land and homes for it to be built, let alone the countless milions it cost.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Sounds a bit like that one in Ireland.

As for AVE - I fail to understand the need to build a fast rail link adjacent to an existing line when there are large areas with poor access to any railway at all - our two nearest stations are over 70 km away!


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> Sounds a bit like that one in Ireland.
> 
> As for AVE - I fail to understand the need to build a fast rail link adjacent to an existing line when there are large areas with poor access to any railway at all - our two nearest stations are over 70 km away!


Last time I checked (several years ago) the old national train routes were so slow as to be unusable. I guess they were mainly used for freight.


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## alborino (Dec 13, 2014)

The Skipper said:


> Just an observation, but earlier this year I was discussing the Castellon airport saga with a family friend, a retired Spanish doctor in his eighties. When he was a young man, living in Albacete, he said there was a lot of debate about the “crazy” plans to build an airport at Alicante. The airport now handles about 10 million passengers a year.


And does the retired doctor even know what ROI is :eyebrows:


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

alborino said:


> And does the retired doctor even know what ROI is :eyebrows:


I doubt it. I´ve never met a doctor yet who understands anything about business!


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## Sirtravelot (Jul 20, 2011)

Reminds me of the one in Berlin, over in Germany, that's costing taxpayers a ridiculous amount of money (5 Billion euros)for...not even operating.


But, hey, at least it's gonna open on...oh, yeah, that's right. Nobody knows when the hell it'll open.

In fact, they still need to invest about 3 billion before they can guesstimate an opening time.

Every month that it is not open, costs 20 million euros.

5 Billion Euros: Costs Increase Again for Berlin Brandenburg Airport - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Spain isn't the only country that makes mistakes.


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