Spanish ghost airport sparks controversy as migrant centre

The Spanish government plans to convert the Ciudad Real Airport in Castilla-La Mancha, closed over a decade ago, into a temporary centre for immigrants. Local authorities are protesting against this solution, claiming it is inhumane.

On Monday, the Ministry of Integration, Social Security, and Migration approved the possibility of using the airport, which was closed in 2011, for this purpose. Recently, it has been used for filming, private flights, as a service centre, and as a parking lot for retired airplanes.

The facility belongs to the company Ciudad Real International Airport (CRIA), and according to Spanish media, the government has already agreed to use the premises.

Emiliano García-Page, head of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, has protested against these plans. The politician's entourage, which belongs to PSOE, the party led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, complains, among other things, about the central government's lack of consultation with local authorities.

Creating a centre in the wilderness would be "absolute nonsense and barbarism," comparable to a "concentration camp," claim local authorities, as quoted by the newspaper "El Mundo."

Pilar Alegría, a government spokesperson in Madrid, stated at a Tuesday press conference that central authorities had contacted the government of Castilla-La Mancha. However, the latter denied that such contacts took place.

Francisco Cañizares, the mayor of Ciudad Real, located about 160 kilometres south of Madrid, believes preparations are underway to accommodate 3,000 immigrants. However, the company Tragsa, conducting work near the airport, denied Cañizares's words, claiming that its machinery is involved in quarrying, reports the newspaper "ABC."

Spain is struggling with an influx of immigrants, mainly from Africa, via the Canary route. By the end of September this year, over 42,200 illegal immigrants arrived in the country, almost 16,000 more than in the same period last year. Nearly 31,000 accomplished this by traversing the dangerous sea route leading to the Canary Islands, whose authorities accuse the Madrid government of inaction.

The Ciudad Real Airport, named after Don Quixote, was supposed to remedy the problems of the Madrid-Barajas Airport. The Spanish built it in the middle of nowhere for over 1 billion euros. It opened in June 2009, received its first international flights a year later, and halted operations for two years in October 2010. Later, the airport's owner declared bankruptcy.

The airport terminal was intended to handle 2 million passengers annually, with the possibility of expansion to accommodate 10 million travellers.

The airport was put up for sale, but no interested buyers were found during several attempts. Eventually, an offer from the Chinese was made but rejected. In 2016, the new buyer became the company CRIA, and the search for a new concept for the empty airport began. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was used as a parking lot for planes grounded by the lockdown.