Spanish airport sold for €10,000

Ciudad Real airport opened in 2008 but has not handled a single commercial flight.

Spain’s infamous Ciudad Real airport – which became a symbol of the country’s recent boom-bust construction industry – has been sold to a group of international investors for just €10,000 – 100,000 times less than it cost to build.

Located south of Madrid, Ciudad Real airport has stood as a white elephant for the past few years. Having opened in 2008 just as the global financial crisis struck, the €1 billion airport never went into full commercial operation, and has stood largely empty ever since…

The airport officially closed in 2012 after failing to establish itself as an alternative destination to Madrid’s Barajas airport. As tourist numbers tailed off in the wake of the recession, demand for additional flights to the region dropped sharply.

The auction price seriously undercuts the airport’s actual value, and there is still a chance that another buyer could come forward and meet the minimum price of €28 million set by the receiver. This would have to happen before the end of September, but – given that the international consortium that won the auction were the only bidders – that does not look likely.

With a capacity of 2.5 million passengers a year, Ciudad Real airport could prove a useful acquisition now that the Spanish economy has begun to pick up, although whether there is yet the need for such a large airport so close to Madrid remains to be seen.

Ciudad Real is not the only ‘ghost’ airport in Spain. Castellón’s airport to the east opened in 2011 but has yet to receive a single scheduled flight, being used instead for charter flights and training flights only. However, Ryanair has expressed a desire to begin servicing Castellón airport this summer, although there has been very little progress on this front since the plan was first announced in March.