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Date Published: 30/03/2022

ARCHIVED - Cartagena requests daily flights to Madrid

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Flights from Murcia to the capital were stopped in 2017

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Cartagena requests daily flights to Madrid

The president of the COEC employers’ association of Cartagena, Ana Correa, has called for the recovery of daily flights between the Region of Murcia and Madrid, at least while the train line to the capital is disrupted.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Campo de Cartagena Region Business Conference: Resilient Companies on Tuesday March 29, Ana Correa insisted that resuming the flights is the only way that “businessmen can make the round trip in the day” until “the railway disconnection” ends.

San Javier airport had an air connection with Madrid until January 2017, two years before the inauguration of the Corvera facilities. Alicante airport has now recovered several daily flights to the Spanish capital after reducing them when the new AVE line was installed.

Before the rail routes were altered, a train journey to Madrid from Cartagena only took around four and a half hours, but now passengers are forced to change trains in both Archena and Albacete and the trip takes six hours.

In Murcia, the AVE is expected to be completed by the end of this year or the beginning of 2023 at the latest, but the high-speed rail line won’t arrive in Cartagena until 2025 or 2026.

The president of COEC pointed out that re-establishing flights to Madrid is also important for international travel and the recovery of the tourism sector in Cartagena. Ms Correa is optimistic about the forecasts for the summer season, since last year the coastal municipality reached an occupation of between 90% and 95% thanks in large part to national tourism.

While there are clearly arguments for recovering the Murcia-Madrid flights, the move would directly contradict the Spanish government’s aim of reducing short-haul flights as part of the country’s fight against climate change.

As part of his ‘Spain 2050’ plan, President Sánchez wants to eliminate air routes in all instances where a train could make the journey in two and a half hours or less.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

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