Further delays at Corvera as the EC requires more answers from the regional government.
The future of the new Region of Murcia International Airport at Corvera is still up in the air, following the publication of news this week that the European Commission in Brussels requires further information before making a pronouncement on whether the proposed regional government loan to management company Aeromur is acceptable.
The news has caused frustration among regional government ministers, who claim that all the questions have already been answered, but the truth is that the issues concerned are complex ones and the authorities in Brussels have to be careful to ensure that good money is not being thrown after bad, as well as guaranteeing that unfair competition regulations are not being infringed.
The main topics on which Brussels officials require further information are two: firstly, clarification as to whether the loan capital is to be used on infrastructures or running costs if and when the airport opens, and secondly the compensation being claimed by Aena for the closure of San Javier airport to civil aviation traffic. Although the regional government says that all the answers have already been given, it has to be admitted that both issues are confusing.
The issue of the purpose of the loan is an important one. If it is required to meet initial running costs in the first years of operation at Corvera, then the amount of lending allowed will depend on forecast operational deficit levels and passenger numbers, with the maximum amount permitted requiring an annual total of under 700,000 passengers. Manuel Campos, the regional minister for Development and Public Works, has stated in response that the loan is for infrastructures, but this is somewhat confusing: in May this year, regional president Alberto Garre reiterated that the airport was ready to open “tomorrow”, making it difficult for Brussels to understand the need for more infrastructures. Even this week, Manuel Campos has reiterated that the airport at Corvera is “completely prepared”.
As for the passenger number requirement, over the last year Sr Campos has cited a forecast passenger volume of up to 6 million per year, although San Javier processed 1.2 million passengers last year.
If the purpose of the loan is a complex issue, the closure of San Javier is an even thornier one. Manuel Campos reports that the proposed loan to Aeromur is compatible with free competition, but only if San Javier closes within six months. This seems difficult to reconcile with his statements of July this year, when, while maintaining a prediction that Corvera would open in 2014, he forecast that it could run alongside San Javier until 2016, and during the last few years others in regional government have claimed at various points that there is no need for San Javier to close at all.
Having invested in a second runway and a new control tower to improve facilities at San Javier, which it insists must be reimbursed in order to close down the facilities, Aena is claiming a reported 36 million euros in compensation, and another unresolved question is who would be liable to pay this amount. Sr Campos is adamant that it’s not the regional government: “I’m not taking a runway and a control tower with me to Corvera”, he told members of the press on Wednesday.
Another candidate to compensate Aena would be Aeromur, but the company is keeping well away from the issue, while perhaps the most logical option would be the Ministry of Defence, who would take back full control of the airport if it is closed to civil aviation. This seems the best solution, but raises the complication that it could then constitute further government aid to Aeromur, reviving the doubts over unfair competition through government subsidization.
It’s all very confusing…
“Corvera will open in April”
What is clear is that the latest request by the European Commission for more information will delay the project yet again, possibly by another two months. In the light of this, Sr Campos now says that “Corvera will open in April”.........
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