Another spanner in the works for Corvera airport

Further delays at Corvera as the EC requires more answers from the regional government

The future of the new Region of Murcia International Airport at Corvera is still up in the air, following the publication of news this week that the European Commission in Brussels requires further information before making a pronouncement on whether the proposed regional government loan to management company Aeromur is acceptable.

The news has caused frustration among regional government ministers, who claim that all the questions have already been answered, but the truth is that the issues concerned are complex ones and the authorities in Brussels have to be careful to ensure that good money is not being thrown after bad, as well as guaranteeing that unfair competition regulations are not being infringed.

The main topics on which Brussels officials require further information are two: firstly, clarification as to whether the loan capital is to be used on infrastructures or running costs if and when the airport opens, and secondly the compensation being claimed by Aena for the closure of San Javier airport to civil aviation traffic. Although the regional government says that all the answers have already been given, it has to be admitted that both issues are confusing.

The issue of the purpose of the loan is an important one. If it is required to meet initial running costs in the first years of operation at Corvera, then the amount of lending allowed will depend on forecast operational deficit levels and passenger numbers, with the maximum amount permitted requiring an annual total of under 700,000 passengers. Manuel Campos, the regional minister for Development and Public Works, has stated in response that the loan is for infrastructures, but this is somewhat confusing: in May this year, regional president Alberto Garre reiterated that the airport was ready to open “tomorrow”, making it difficult for Brussels to understand the need for more infrastructures. Even this week, Manuel Campos has reiterated that the airport at Corvera is “completely prepared”.

As for the passenger number requirement, over the last year Sr Campos has cited a forecast passenger volume of up to 6 million per year, although San Javier processed 1.2 million passengers last year.

If the purpose of the loan is a complex issue, the closure of San Javier is an even thornier one. Manuel Campos reports that the proposed loan to Aeromur is compatible with free competition, but only if San Javier closes within six months. This seems difficult to reconcile with his statements of July this year, when, while maintaining a prediction that Corvera would open in 2014, he forecast that it could run alongside San Javier until 2016, and during the last few years others in regional government have claimed at various points that there is no need for San Javier to close at all.

Having invested in a second runway and a new control tower to improve facilities at San Javier, which it insists must be reimbursed in order to close down the facilities,  Aena is claiming a reported 36 million euros in compensation, and another unresolved question is who would be liable to pay this amount. Sr Campos is adamant that it’s not the regional government: “I’m not taking a runway and a control tower with me to Corvera”, he told members of the press on Wednesday.

Another candidate to compensate Aena would be Aeromur, but the company is keeping well away from the issue, while perhaps the most logical option would be the Ministry of Defence, who would take back full control of the airport if it is closed to civil aviation. This seems the best solution, but raises the complication that it could then constitute further government aid to Aeromur, reviving the doubts over unfair competition through government subsidization.

It’s all very confusing…

“Corvera will open in April”
What is clear is that the latest request by the European Commission for more information will delay the project yet again, possibly by another two months. In the light of this, Sr Campos now says that “Corvera will open in April”.

However, he then goes on to add “… although if it doesn’t, we will look for a second option”. He adds that he is determined to see the airport open for the good of the Region of Murcia: the Region, he says, deserves better than a military airport adapted for use by passengers, and one with a longer runway (3,300 metres as opposed to 2,200).

It’s not clear how Sr Campos has reached the date of April for the opening of Corvera. It has always been said that if and when the green light is received for the loan a further six months will be needed to obtain all the necessary permits and licences, and if it is to be another two months (minimum) before the EC decides, then it may be that Sr Campos is erring on the side of optimism.

And of course, the scheduling practices of the air industry must also be taken into consideration, as flight slots are allocated months in advance and can only be assigned to completed, and operational, airports, meaning that even should the airport open it may still be several months before any volume of commercial flights begin.

Until as late as July this year he was adamant that the airport would open this year, even after his “definite” date of 18th September had passed with no word from Brussels, and if an opening ceremony at Corvera were to be anything other than symbolic, agreements with airlines would have to be in place for summer 2015.

In addition, as of 1st January next year airport permits will have to be sought from Brussels rather than Aena, with whom Aeromur have been dealing until now, meaning in effect that to a certain extent the whole procedure would have to start again.

Cynics might be tempted to speculate that Sr Campos’ choice of date is determined less by the administrative ground still to be covered than by the fact that the next municipal and regional elections in Murcia are to be held on 24th May next year.

Predictably opposition politicians have been scathing in their comments, the PSOE demanding answers as to whether the regional government would be stumping up the cash should the attempt to gain money from Brussels flounder and the IU adamant that the  whole project is a “failure”, and that taxpayers are going to end up paying for the “problems encountered by a private enterprise” which should have done its sums and not borrowed money in the first place when the economic crisis was already in full freefall and passenger figures for San Javier were markedly on the way down despite the addition of a second runway to San Javier.
So for now, book flights to San Javier in the immediate future.