ARCHIVED - First flights at Corvera airport on 15th January, says Aena president

Everything is on course to complete preparations at Corvera in December

Specific dates for the opening of the Region of Murcia International Airport in Corvera have been given before, but the one which was supplied on Thursday by Jaime García Legaz, the president of management company Aena, is lent credibility by the fact that on this occasion there are already airlines selling seats on flights to and from the new facility.

According to Sr García Legaz, who will almost certainly be replaced as Aena boss as a consequence of the abrupt change in the Spanish government last week, everything is on course for the timeframe he specified in March to be met. In other words, in technical and administrative terms the airport will be ready to operate during December of this year, but in order to deal with any teething problems as smoothly as possible flights will not be transferred from the existing infrastructure in San Javier until after the Christmas and New Year season, and the scheduled transfer date is 15^th January 2019.

It should be pointed out that the Aena president was careful to add the caveat “barring unforeseen circumstances”, but with Jet2 and Easyjet already promoting flights to Corvera it appears less and less likely that any more of the problems which have plagued the process of opening the airport will arise, despite a change in the presidency of Aena being almost inevitable.

Sr García Legaz was commenting on an Aena report concerning the progress at Corvera, which states that a “pre-agreement” is in place with the company’s 70 employees at San Javier airport by which they will be transferred to Corvera along with the flights, and at the same time steps are being taken to enable all of the ancillary companies operating at San Javier to move to Corvera, along with their 410 staff, assuming they wish to do so.

Similarly, agreements have already been reached with the Policía Nacional and the Guardia Civil regarding border control and security, and the airport is already declared a customs zone. Still pending is the certification of Corvera by AESA (Spain’s air safety body), but it is expected that this will be completed by November following the completion of calibration flights during the last week of May.

In addition, contact has been made with all of the airlines which are considered to be potential users of the facility, and apart from Easyjet and Jet2 others which are almost certain to be operating at Corvera include Ryanair, Volotea and Iberia Express.

Aena also point out that not all of the procedures which still need to be completed depend entirely on the company. Apart from AESA, others involved are the civil aviation authority, which needs to give approval to air space details, the Cabinet (who have to authorize the transfer of activity from San Javier) the Ministry of Hacienda (from whom approval is needed for the organizational structure of the new Aena subsidiary company which will be in charge at Corvera) and the Ministry of the Interior, which has to give its seal of approval to the border control and security arrangements.

Nonetheless, the feeling is that after years of doubt, changes of policy, setbacks, disagreement and unfulfilled promises, this time it’s for real: the airport at Corvera is on track to open in just over seven months’ time.

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