A Spanish airport has reopened its doors earlier this year after being shut for 14 years. Ciudad Real International Airport, based around 150 miles from Madrid, opened in 2008 but shut down after filing for bankruptcy in April 2012, becoming the country’s “ghost airport” despite being built after a €1billion (£864million) investment.
The airfield was originally used for long-term aircraft storage until the airport’s operator announced its reopening under new ownership. The managing director of Ciudad Real International Airport, Rafael Gómez Arribas, confirmed that the airport will handle only private flights, mainly from Europe and the United States.
Ciudad Real Airport, however, struggled as a commercial hub, largely due to its isolated location, despite being built to be an alternative to the city’s Barajas Airport.
The airport has Europe’s largest runways and airlines including Ryanair, Air Berlin, and Vueling briefly operated there.
It was also built to handle the world’s biggest commercial aircraft, the Airbus A380. The airport was originally named Don Quixote Airport after the beloved fictional hero from the classic Spanish novel Don Quixote.
According to the original plans, a high-speed AVE train station was also planned to connect the airport to Madrid and Seville, reducing travel times and making it an attractive alternative to the congested Madrid Barajas Airport.
The terminal was designed to accommodate 2.5 million passengers annually. After years of abandonment, Ciudad Real Airport was auctioned off multiple times. It was eventually sold in 2019 to Ciudad Real International Airport S.L. (CRIA) for €56.2million (£46.9million), a fraction of its original construction cost.
