ARCHIVED - Political posturing over Corvera airport Military airspace issue

Following more comment in the press, politicians have been queuing up to have their say about Corvera airport

This weekend there was another round of press coverage relating to the issues in opening the new International airport at Corvera.

The first related to the topic of flight approaches to the new airport, a subject which has received a good deal of press attention recently due to the revelations that the airport lies within the sensitive military training zone covered by San Javier, but is also surrounded by military airspace relating to the Alcantarilla parachute training centre, and the Los Llanos military base in Albacete, a combination of factors which have lead the military to propose a very low flight approach, one which is too low for ground based air traffic control to administer.

The second issue raised was the possibility that the airport is in fact already for sale, with a potential overseas purchaser looking at purchasing the installations at the moment.

Without formal confirmation of either allegation, the political opposition issued statements criticising the situation and the uncertainty which these allegations are casting doubt over the future of the whole project. The head of the Murcian PSOE party, Rafael González Tovar, asked for the President of the Region of Murcia, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, "to stop hiding his face in the sand and explain to the residents of the region if the infrastructure is for sale and if its looking for a new owner. It is very serious, " he said, "that each day there is more uncertainty. We dont know if the concessionary is going to compensate Aena or not, and we dont really know when the airport is going to open."

He then went on to question whether " Valcárcel and his experts didnt know when they were planning the location of the new airport that there were two military aerodromes nearby, those of San Javier and Alcantarilla."

In his opinion, he said, "the regional government has been lying all this time, it was lying when it said that everything was sorted out with Aena, and its lying now, when it says that the airport will be operational in October. Now it turns out that they havent done all the necessary due diligence and that the question of the airspace has been looked at at the end, when it should have been studied at the beginning."
He also asked the president of the region to explain if there are more economic problems than we have been told and to confirm if the airport is up for sale since the media are saying that there is a foreign buyer interested in purchasing it .

"It is urgent, " he stated that "they stop feeding us words, and clarify what are the options open to the airport, an airport, which is much anticipated by the businesses of the region, and that if there is a problem of political coordination between the government and central government that the Prime Minister is asked to find a solution immediately . Its very serious that an infrastructure in which so much money has been invested and upon which so much hope has been placed to bring the region out of the crisis, is now in such a state of uncertainty, " he concluded.

The regional coordinator of the UPyD, Rafael Sánchez, expressed his " doubts about the very real possibility that the airport will open after the succession of delays, which are announced every 6 to 7 months, and now the problems about the air space use, leads us each time to question the viability of the airport. "

He  said that, "the airport is approaching with giant steps becoming another Ciudad Real or Castellón, pedestrianised areas,  airports without planes ."

The PP spokeswoman, Laura Muñoz, was quick to condemn the declarations of the PSOE opposition lamenting that González Tovar " constantly opposes the opening of the airport, " and asked the leader of the Socialist that he "stopped sticking sticks in the wheels of a beneficial project, which is good for all Murcians."

She condemned what she called, "a constant strategy of attack by González Tovar on any project promoted by the regional government, an attitude which had no intention of working for the future of the region and was only used to score political points ."

She said that the regional airport . "Is an infrastructure of considerable proportions, and this is reflected in the complexity of the bureaucratic processes which have to take place in order to open the airport." She then repeated the stages which need to be undertaken in order to open Corvera, which were listed last weekend following revelations in the press that delays in obtaining the correct licences were due to the question of military airspace sensitivities.

She concluded by saying that "an infrastructure of this quality does not start operations the day after construction has been concluded."
The Minister for Transport has remained optimistic during the week that the issues can be resolved by negotiation and has stated that steps are underway to bring about a solution to this latest issue for the airport.

To read the full history of Corvera, or check previously posted articles, Click Corvera airport articles.