ARCHIVED - President Valcárcel to meet Ryanair representatives reference Corvera airport

Corvera airport progressing very well, all that´s missing are the airlines

Negotiations are continuing in an effort to provide one of the key elements still missing from the new regional airport in Corvera: flights.

Most of us have little or no experience of building and opening an international airport, but despite that we can see the importance of this aspect of the business, and it seems that the authorities in Murcia are aware that whilst this is ultimately the responsibility of the concessionary, Aeromur, that they will be left with the worry of a 200 million loan guarantee should the concessionary fail to deliver the goods.

 Admittedly no actual contract can be signed with airlines until all the airports licences are fully in place, but to date there appears to be little in the way of preliminary agreements which can be converted to finalised agreements once the licenses have been granted.

Aeromur, the company in charge of running the airport, recently parted company with its director, Mariano Menor, who is strongly rumoured to be going back to his previous post at Alicante airport, and in the wake of this there appears to be no convincing Aeromur representative leading the way in discussions with airlines. Sr Menor left no binding agreements in place with any airlines, and while San Javier and Alicante airports continue to reach agreements with various companies for the next couple of years, there are still none at Corvera.

Into this void it would seem that the regional government sees itself forced to step. Next week top executives from Ryanair are meeting the regional president, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, together with various of his ministers, in an attempt to reach an agreement which would be beneficial to both the airline and the airport (and, by extension, to the regional government. So much money has been invested in the construction of the airport and associated infrastructures that the government badly needs it to hit the ground running, so to speak).

Ryanair now operates more than 1,000 routes, including 200 in Spain, and any agreement with the new airport would obviously be an enormous shot in the arm for the Corvera facility. Should no agreement be reached, on the other hand, the absence of Europes biggest low-cost airline from Corvera would be a severe body blow to the regional governments flagship project.

What attitude Ryanair will bring to the negotiating table is a matter of no little concern. Only a year ago they were more than slightly miffed at the regional governments refusal to concede them a subsidy related to their flights in and out of San Javier, and it would be easy to harbour fears that Mr OLeary and his henchmen will take Sr Valcárcel for a ride, realizing how desperate he is for the new airport to get off to a "flying start".

The Region suffered reductions in air traffic of nearly 50% when Ryanair pulled most of its winter flights this last winter, and even though Jet2 stepped up its flights to the region they couldn´t fill all the routes, and traders blamed much of their quiet winter to lack of flights in and out of the region.

As all passengers know only too well, there´s nothing personal in the negotiations for this airline: can they make enough money to make it worthwhile is the only consideration.

Prior to next weeks meeting, the party line from the regional government is outwardly calm and unrevealing. Antonio Sevilla, the minister for Public Works, says that various airlines have visited the airport to see the facilities and evaluate them from a technical point of view, and last week the government issued a press release announcing the visit of Spanair executives to the new airport, but now it is time to take conversations a stage further, onto a commercial level.

Ryanair is of course not the only airline entering into negotiations with the airport (through the regional government). A meeting has also been arranged with Vueling, Spains largest low-cost airline, and another target airline is Air Berlin. In fact Air Berlin made a commitment to Corvera as long ago as 2009, which begs the question: why have other airlines not made the same commitment?

Last week it was reported that the regional government had "decided" that most of the air traffic in and out of Corvera would be to and from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Russia. This is not a government decision, though, it is simply a fact that most of the visitors to the Region already come from these countries and will continue to do so. The real decision is still to be made, and not by the regional government but by the airlines, who currently have three options to choose from: the recently extended facilities at Alicante, the recently extended facilities at San Javier, or the as yet unopened and unproven facilities at Corvera.

However, the airport will be completed before Christmas, as announced by the Consejero for public works, and applications can then begin for the operating licenses to bring the airport into operation early next summer.

All we need now are some airlines.