Kalatrava Canyon and a pequeño pueblo at Ciudad Real Airport only 104 peoplealthough in the summer its people are crowded. It has a bar, but it closes on Tuesdays, so today the street has become a meeting place to discuss the topic of the day: the possibility that the airport, which is only three kilometers away and is only used for private flights, recording and maintenance of aircraft, could have a reception area for incoming tourists.
See the main building of the airport of Ciudad Real, which the Government will use as a temporary reception area. / / Alba Vigaray
“Well, we were a little scared, to be honest. We don’t have a store or anything, and now this is happening…”, commented a neighbor of about 65 years who does not want to mention his name. “We don’t know anything, whether it’s fake or what I know,” he continues, “but, if it’s true, They have to manage it well because there is only one train. It has no power. If they do well, it will be good, right? Because they are people, not things. ”
The grass eats the shoulders
Every few minutes, in Calatrava you can hear the rumble of the Madrid-Andalucía AVE high-speed line that runs through the town. where the airport was built, which began operations in 2008, A walkway was also created from the airport to connect the train. Now the metal seems to be worn out, abandoned. On the roads leading to the airport, grass and bushes have filled the shoulders.
10/15/2024. Two residents of Cañada de Calatrava, just three kilometers from Ciudad Real airport, chat in the street on Tuesday. / ALBA VIGARAY
Not a soul to be seen, it looks like a scene from ‘Walking Dead’. Barriers to parking for many years – the airport ceased operations in 2011 -, and no one at the foreign security checkpoint. “We don’t know anything,” says the guard inside the terminal, where there are seven cars standing, most of them a Royal City International Airport (CRIA), the owner of the airport.
Civil Guard inspection
The company took over the airport in 2018, the first privately built in Spain and designed to boost the Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas airport, for 56.2 million euros after the previous management company entered bankruptcy. The two cars in the parking lot belong to the security guards who patrol the area, one of them comes out to ask that they keep a distance when taking pictures and without removing the two Iberia planes parked in front of the terminal.
Several construction vehicles work in front of Ciudad Real airport, this Tuesday. / ALBA VIGARAY
Although the Ciudad Real City Council stated that renovation work had already begun to include a reception area, the airport denied this on Tuesday. “There are no jobs of any kind,” said a CRÍA employee bluntly. During the day, cars and mills were parked in one of the driveways.
The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, meanwhile, confirmed to Efe that they are studying the possibility of an airport. they can have a temporary place to stop the reception area that has started to fall in the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and other places on the Levantine coast. such as Murcia, Almería or Alicante where refugees arrive in boats and small boats. Ministry sources suggested that it could be one of the sites for the development of boosters considering “slow use”, but explained that “hundreds” of opportunities are being studied.
“Nonsense”
All from the Executive of Castilla-La Mancha, led by a socialist Emiliano García-Page, who felt it was “outrageous” for the Government to consider this, which could be “almost a refugee camp“, as from the town councils of Ciudad Real and Puertollano, They were against the project, which they called “nonsense.”
An empty street yesterday in Cañada de Calatrava, a town near Ciudad Real airport. / ALBA VIGARAY
“We will do everything we can to prevent people from being trapped in industrial buildings, to be a ghetto. “It’s a flawed immigration policy,” said Francisco Cañizares, mayor of Ciudad Real, of the PP.
“Let’s see if this is fun”
In Canada they are divided on this issue. “I have no idea, let’s see what happens in the end,” complains a woman who doesn’t want to stop to submit her research. “Let’s see, I don’t see a problem, but I have to be alone in the town. No one is illegal,” says Pilar bluntly, who came out of the street to hand the papers to her mother. “I see it as a good thing, because this means bringing people into town. Let’s see if this will encourage,” says Martín, who retired from Leganés and has lived here for a long time because it is his hometown. “If it helps to be with people…”, wonders Miguel García, who walks slowly with the help of his cachava. “Even though I don’t know if I will see it, I won’t stay long since I am 95 years old,” he says.
Not many people think like that. In Poblete, the largest town between the airport and Ciudad Real (2,571 inhabitants), as the sleeping city of the regional capital, They are not clear at all. “They put it in the back door,” complains Juan Manuel, who is about 60 years old. “They have already told me that they have ordered a three-meter fence from a company in the area. If the one from Melilla jumps, why can’t they jump that one? Here we have a peaceful life. “We don’t want them messing with us.”
Check out the airport connection with the AVE line that passes in front of Ciudad Real airport. / ALBA VIGARAY
“Let’s see, what can I tell you about a neighbor who took advantage of the rain to stop and drive a few times.” risk, it’s all people.” The young people we have… this is a problem that politicians have to solve.
