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Date Published: 12/05/2022

Murcia Corvera airport changes its name

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The airport will now officially be renamed the ‘Aeropuerto Internacional de la Región de Murcia-Juan de la Cierva’, after a controversial Nationalist revolutionary

After weeks and months of debate and resistance, the Governing Council of the Region of Murcia has finally approved a movement to change the name of the Corvera airport in Murcia to ‘Aeropuerto Internacional de la Región de Murcia-Juan de la Cierva’, or ‘International Airport of the Region of Murcia-Juan de la Cierva’.

It will be named after Juan de la Cierva Codorníu, an inventor from Murcia and one of the foremost proponents of the air transport industry in Spain in the early days, helping to develop technological advances in aeronautical engineering and the History of Science.

He was also the first person to publicly propose the construction of a commercial airport in the Region of Murcia, in April 1935.

However, the proposed name change was held up in limbo for so long because the Socialist central government in Spain vetoed the idea since Juan de la Cierva also happens to be a controversial figure who participated in the coup d’état of 1936 to try and overthrow the Spanish Second Republic, an event that led to the start of the Spanish Civil War and the rise to power of the dictator General Francisco Franco.

The regional government in Murcia, led by the conservative PP party, insists that the new name is in the public’s general interest, as it seeks to position the Region of Murcia as a brand and a top tourist destination and, at the same time, “to pay tribute to the legacy and the figure of the Murcian inventor”.

Similarly, Professor Roberto Villa, a specialist in Political History, has backed up the region, concluding that Juan de la Cierva “cannot be affected in any case” by the application of the Law of Historical Memory, which outlaws any act adoration for Franco or his administration.

The Region quotes another report by Professor of Modern History at the University of Murcia, Javier Guillamón, which highlights the international relevance of the engineer in scientific progress, and states that “what counts is his career” and asks that we “not use his ideology to discredit him”.

There are already several statues to honour Juan de la Cierva in Murcia and around Spain, as well as streets, schools and more named after him.

Whatever the name, it is unlikely to have too much effect on the more than 400,000 passengers expected to pass through the airport on their holidays this summer.

See also: These are the places you can fly to from ~~Corvera~~ Juan de la Cierva Airport this summer

Image 1: Google Maps

Image 2: Wikimedia commons