ARCHIVED - Corvera airport faces an uncertain 2021 as Covid continues to decimate international travel

Reports of only seven passengers on two flights from the UK on Sunday

The ban on air travel into Spain from the UK which was introduced last week due to fears over the new, highly contagious strain of Covid-19 detected in Britain has naturally lead to a reduction in the number of passengers travelling (only those resident in this country and native Spaniards are being allowed to return), but on Sunday two flights to the Region of Murcia International Airport in Corvera from and Gatwick brought a grand total of just 7 passengers to the Costa Cálida, according to regional newspaper La Verdad.

It is reported that five landed on a Ryanair flight from Manchester during the morning and another two flew in from Gatwick with Easyjet during the afternoon, all of them either bearing proof that they had tested negative for the virus within the 72 hours prior to leaving the UK or being subjected to an antibody test on arrival. The Spanish government has already announced that these requirements will remain in place for at least another two weeks, and in addition at Corvera all arrivals are checked for possible high temperatures using camera-thermometers mounted on the walls.

The New Year will begin in a climate of hope as the Covid immunization campaign gathers momentum throughout Europe, and in the sector of international travel it goes without saying that airlines are keen to restore flights and routes which have been suspended since the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic. As they do so, though, they will be suffering the financial consequences of Covid-19 and will be forced to concentrate only on routes which can be relied upon to make a profit, and whether the new airport in Corvera will be a priority remains to be seen.

This raises the question of what 2021 holds in store for the airport, where so far this year passenger numbers are down by 79.5 per cent. For many years air traffic in the Region of Murcia – first at the airport of San Javier and then at Corvera – has been dominated by flights to and from the UK, and with worries over the new Covid variant compounding the already existing concerns over the possible effect of Brexit, the prospects for next year are uncertain to say the least.