ARCHIVED - Over 1.1 million passengers in Corvera in the first year of flights at the new airport

The total for 2019 is 160,000 lower than the year before at Murcia-San Javier

Two days before the first anniversary of the arrival of the first passengers at the Region of Murcia International Airport in Corvera it is reported by Aena that passenger numbers have risen to over 1.1 million, fewer than in the previous twelve months at the airport of Murcia-San Javier but more than had been expected in some quarters following the opening of the new facility.

During December the number of passengers passing through the terminal building at Corvera was 36,896, representing a “loss” of just under 10,000 travellers compared to the same month last year at San Javier. In absolute terms the decrease is again far less important than those reported during the summer, but of course with the onset of winter flight schedules the figures are much lower and in real terms the drop of 21 per cent is a very significant one.

The cumulative total for 2019 thus reached 1,112,513 (including the first fortnight when 21,559 people were on board the flights still taking off and landing at San Javier), over 160,000 (or 12.6 per cent) fewer than the total for the year before, and the data also show that this December there were 353 flights at Corvera as opposed to 412 at San Javier last December, a decrease of 14.3 per cent.

To add to the disappointment, the December figures for the Murcia airport come in the context of a nationwide increase of a 3.7 per cent at all of the airports managed by Aena in Spain. This brought the overall passenger total up to 18.25 million during the month, with increases reported at most of the country’s busiest airports including Alicante-Elche, where a rise of 5.68 per cent took the total up to 873,625.

One aspect of the 2019 data at Corvera which did not change, however, was the dominance of flights between the Costa Cálida and the UK and Ireland on the arrivals and departures boards. Starting from 15^th January, when the airport opened, passengers on UK-Murcia flights accounted for 80.6 per cent of the overall total, with the bulk of the rest travelling on the services to and from Dublin (7.7 per cent), Belgium (4.3 per cent), Norway (2.6 per cent) and domestic flights within Spain (2.9 per cent). In addition, a further 1.6 per cent were travelling on the summer flights to and from the Czech Republic and Poland, but the absence of flights connecting the Costa Cálida to the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands and Germany is still denting the overall figures.

Almost a third of the drop in passenger numbers can be accounted for by Ryanair’s decision to drop the winter flights to and from Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Frankfurt in Germany, other absences from this winter’s flight schedule including the Jet2 services connecting the Costa Cálida with Edinburgh and Newcastle.

On the other hand, though, there are various services either already in operation or shortly to begin at Corvera which were not supplied at San Javier, including the domestic routes connecting the Region of Murcia with Asturias in northern Spain, Palma de Mallorca, Gran Canaria, Bilbao and Barcelona.

It should be pointed out that the figures at Corvera are low in comparison with those recorded during 2018 at San Javier, but they are not disappointing in the context of the expectations of Aena, the airport management company. In passing the million mark in 2019 the objective has been met and a tariff of 84 cents per passenger is payable to the regional government, and although this will bring in revenue of over 900,000 euros it is not enough to make a serious dent in the debt of 182 million euros owed by the government in respect of a loan for which it acted as guarantor on behalf of Aeromur, the consortium which was initially awarded the construction and management contract at Corvera before it was rescinded in 2012.

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