7.10.11

Fwd: El Mundo / The Telegraph: El aeropuerto de Castellon....Spain's white elephants

7 10 2011

ECONOMÍA | Diario británico


The Telegraph ve el aeropuerto de Castellón como ejemplo del 'derroche' público en España



Las bases y las pistas aún no tienen operatividad a falta

Las bases y las pistas aún no tienen operatividad a falta de permisos. | ELMUNDO.es
  • Se titula 'Spain's white elephants: how country's airports lie empty'
  • Se refiere a la base como un macroproyecto que cuesta más de lo que rinde
  • Tampoco se 'salva' de las críticas el aeropuerto de Ciudad Real
Europa Press | Castellón
Actualizado viernes 07/10/2011 19:02 horas

El aeropuerto de Castellón protagoniza un artículo en el diario británico The Telegraph sobre el "derroche" de dinero público en megaproyectos que pululan por el paisaje español.

El reportaje se titula 'Spain's white elephants: how country's airports lie empty' (Los elefantes blancos españoles: cómo los aeropuertos regionales permanecen vacíos).

El término 'white elephants' hace referencia a aquellas posesiones que tienen un costo de manutención mayor que los beneficios que aportan. La periodista Fiona Govan explica que el último ejemplo de este tipo de infraestructura es el aeropuerto de Castellón, inaugurado en marzo con un coste de 150 millones de euros, y cuya torre de control "no ha guiado el aterrizaje de ningún avión".

"Elefantes blancos que ensucian el paisaje español, megaproyectos a menudo financiados por dinero público que han ayudado a conducir a España hacia el 'boom' y simbolizan el derroche de dinero que ha contribuido al espectacular descalabro económico", destaca el artículo.

Según explica la periodista, el aeropuerto de Castellón se construyó con la promesa de ser una puerta a una "región no descubierta", un proyecto que generaría empleos "en un país que cuenta con un 21% de desempleo".

Seis meses después, esté complejo espera que le otorguen la licencia para operar, algo que "muchos atribuyen a las diferencias entre el conservador ejecutivo regional y el gobierno socialista de Madrid", dice el artículo, y, además, destaca que el aeropuerto "todavía no ha atraído la atención de las aerolíneas low-cost tan necesarias para su éxito".


Ciudad Real y Huesca



A continuación, el reportaje salta al aeropuerto de Ciudad Real, donde Vueling ha eliminado algunas rutas a causa "de la escasa rentabilidad, el incremento del precio del queroseno y el estancamiento de la economía española". "Con sólo dos vuelos a la semana, -Vueling- es la única aerolínea comercial que opera" en este aeropuerto, explica.

Otro de los protagonistas del artículo es el aeropuerto de Huesca, abierto en 2009 y pensado para "atraer" a esquiadores a las pistas de los Pirineos. Según Govan, "en 2009 el aeropuerto sólo recibió a 6.228 pasajeros", por lo que cada pasajero "costó a los fondos públicos alrededor de 700 euros", remarca.

De los 48 aeropuertos regionales construidos en este "país apretado por las deudas", "solamente once de ellos han obtenido beneficios en los últimos 20 años", aclara la corresponsal en Madrid de The Daily Telegraph.

Govan finaliza el artículo con las declaraciones de un jubilado de Castellón que asegura que "no le sorprende" el destino del último aeropuerto construido en España. "Siempre pensé que era estúpido construirlo aquí cuando estamos a menos de una hora del aeropuerto de Valencia", confiesa el anciano, quien finaliza: "y pensar que estábamos preocupado por el ruido de los aviones". "Qué broma".
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Spain's white elephants – how country's airports lie empty


Only 11 of Spain's 48 regional airports are profitable and its newest project has yet to see a single passenger through its terminal.



By Fiona Govan, Castellón

8:45AM BST 05 Oct 2011


The gleaming new air traffic control tower shimmers in the midday heat, visible for miles around, it rises up above groves of orange trees in the agricultural region of Castellón, north of Valencia.

But it has yet to guide a single aircraft onto the 3,000 yards of virgin runway at Spain's newest airport, inaugurated in March at a cost of 150 million euros (£130 million).

The metal clad terminal stands empty, its vast car park untarnished by a single vehicle, weeds growing up through the pavements, the only sign of life.

It is the newest example of infrastructure "white elephants" that litter the Spanish countryside, huge projects often funded by taxpayer money that helped drive Spain's economic boom and that have come to symbolise the wasteful spending contributing to its spectacular bust.

Castellón Airport promised to be a gateway to an undiscovered region, providing jobs for locals in a country struggling with 21 per cent unemployment rate, and delivering tourists tempted by cheap deals to some of Spain's most beautiful white sand beaches.

But six months after its completion it has yet to be awarded an airport license – a fact many attribute to political differences between the Conservative-run region and the socialist government in Madrid – still yet attract the attention of the low-cost airlines deemed so necessary for its success.

The fate of another of Spain's airports will do little to encourage investors in Castellón. Next month Spanish low cost carrier Vueling will cease to operate routes from Ciudad Real airport, 125 miles south of Madrid in Castile-La Mancha.

"Low profitability of the routes, increased cost of aviation fuel, and the stagnation of the Spanish economy have forced the decision," the airline said in a statement.

With only two flights a week it was the only commercial airline left operating.

The airport, the first privately-owned venture in Spain although publicly subsidised, opened in December 2008 costing close to 1 billion Euros and with the ambition of becoming a cargo and passenger in the shadow of the capital's Barajas airport. It was even called Madrid South.

But far from meeting its target forecast of 1.5m passengers a year, it managed only 100,000 in 2010, and saw airlines including Ryanair, Air Berlin and Air Nostrum drop it from their routes as unprofitable.

Last year the company that ran the airport went into receivership owing millions to contractors, and leading the Bank of Spain to take control of the regional savings bank Caja Castilla La Mancha which bankrolled the project.

Under specially negotiated employment contracts all airport personnel, even its executives, rotate with three months on the job followed by three months at home on the dole.

Another example is Huesca airport, opened in 2007 in the shadow of the Pyrenees in northeastern Spain, regional authorities hoped to attract skiers to its slopes, even subsiding the now defunct Pyrenair.

Seeing only 6,228 passengers in the whole of 2009, one report stated that each passenger cost the public coffers some 700 euros (£600) and last year its losses amounted to 6m euros (£5.2m).

The last commercial flight departed in April, the next is not due until January. But the fully staffed airport still attracts visitors – locals drive out to the airport to dine in its air-conditioned cafés and restaurants.

During the height of the construction boom, authorities rushed to take advantage of low-cost airlines, to plan new airports and open up hitherto unknown regions to northern European tourists.

But of the 48 regional commercial airports built in the debt-ridden country in less than 20 years, only 11 make a profit.

As part of a series of austerity measures designed to wrench Spain out of its deep economic problems, Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero promised partially to privatise its airports. Negotiations are still under way.

Back in Castellón, residents are not at all surprised at the fate of Spain's newest airport.

"I always thought it was a stupid idea to build one here when we are less than one hour from Valencia airport and I was right," confessed Vicento Bore, a 78-year old pensioner playing cards with friends in the tranquil square of Vilanova d'Alcorea, a village with 700 inhabitants less than two miles from Castellon airport.

"To think that we were worried about all the noise of suddenly being in a flight path," he laughed. "What a joke."