General Industry

Ryanair Will be First to Use 'Ghost Airport'

By Publications Checkout
Ryanair Will be First to Use 'Ghost Airport'

Ryanair will become the first airline to fly scheduled flights from the Castellón airport, which has lay deserted since it was built in 2011.

As reported in The Guardian, the budget airline announced that it will start flying from the regional airport in Valencia from September to two destinations in England, London (Stanstead) and Bristol, with three and two flights a week, respectively. The flights will be sold at a promotional price of €32 until December.

Castellón, the so-called "ghost airport", cost €150 million to build but stood empty in the four years since, and is widely regarded as an indictment to the improvidence shown by the regional government in Spain at the time.

The airport, along with its 24-metre-high copper sculpture (pictured), became a white elephant for the region and a symbol of the property bust. The first commercial flight at the airport was in January this year, a charter flight carrying the Villarreal football team.

Ryanair has predicted the new route will carry 60,000 passengers a year and create 60 new jobs. The move is somewhat out of left-field for Ryanair, as the company has recently expressed more of an interest in central, city airports.

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