At last! Plans for airport handover confirmed (Corvera)
Friday, November 9, 2012 @ 1:09 AM
ANTONIO SEVILLA, the councillor for Public Works, has confirmed that San Javier and Corvera Airports will serve the Costa Calida together for some months after the new flight terminal at Corvera is opened next year.
Airport authority Aena has made the decision to operate the two facilities simultaneously to achieve a smoother changeover. It was decided that this gradual transfer of services would be more practical than shutting down San Javier as soon as Corvera became operational.
INVESTMENT
Corvera airport has been under construction for the last five years but plans were in place several years prior to that resulting in huge property investment and construction in and around Murcia.
Murcia’s San Javier airport on the Mar Menor, about an hour south of Alicante, is limited by its dual service as a military base. Flight times and ground services are shared with military operations. Corvera, on the other hand, satisfies every requirement as an international destination terminal.
TWO TO SIX MONTHS
Speaking at the Regional Assembly on Tuesday, Sevilla said that personnel and flight services would be divided between the two airports with the bulk of operations gradually transferring to Corvera.
Aena predicts that operations at both airports could continue for between two and six months, sparking speculation on how difficult it could be to run two separate facilities for such a long period, despite San Javier only handling a limited number of flights. There will of course be a requirement for two customs areas, two security bases and immigration staff required for both terminals.
TESTING, TESTING…
Calibration test flights have been carried out recently at Corvera and although no problems were encountered the formal certification that is required relating to ground safety and flight path approval is still pending.
RUMOURS
The Costa Calida has waited impatiently for news of progress on the International Airport at Corvera for some months, with varying reports suggesting that cash was short… or cash had run out… and the runways were too short...
The budget for the new airport at Corvera now has just 100,000€ within its allocation, which will be spent on completing service installations within the terminal, tipped to be open for business in April 2013 in time for the start of the busy tourist season marked by the Easter break.
And the runway is the longest in Spain
Source: RTN