Spain aims to sell with 100 mililoan euros a "ghost" airport on which they spent 1 billion

Spain wants to get 100 million on an airport which cost € 1 billion , opened in 2009 in a town of 75,000 inhabitants , but closed in April last year due to very low traffic , writes the British newspaper Financial Times said on Tuesday. The airport, in immaculate condition , has 4 miles of track and was built for traffic of 10 million passengers per year.

Airport includes a visitors' center , a vast industrial park and a control tower 50 meters high. It also has good access to the national highways and generous parking

The project was completed in 2009 , shortly after the collapse of the real estate market in Spain, at a cost to private investors and regional authorities over 1 billion euros. Administrators will remove months to sell ' ghost airport "in Ciudad Real, writes the Financial Times.

Opened with high hopes in 2009 , the airport has never attracted more than a few flights per week , well below capacity. No plane has not landed in Ciudad Real in April last year, when it was officially closed .

CR Aeropuertos company , terminal operator in Ciudad Real, went bankrupt three years ago , and the airport will be auctioned to pay debts to creditors.

The sale will begin Monday and will end on December 29 , according to a press release by the administrators . The bidders will have to propose prices for over 100 million and is equivalent guarantees 5% of the tender amount .

"So far no firm offers have been submitted , but there are several interested parties and we expect Monday to be transmitted proposals ," said Francisco Perez , one of the administrators .

Ciudad Real, a regional capital with only 75,000 inhabitants , is located midway between Madrid and Cordoba, in less populated area of Castilla -La Mancha . In the region there is significant industrial activity , the city attracts few visitors , especially from abroad .

According to the Spanish statistics , the number of overnight stays of foreign visitors in Ciudad Real is 1300-1500 per month.

The strong contrast between the capacity of the airport too obvious lack of demand and make the airport a symbol of the excesses of the boom years of Spain .

The initial decision to appoint Don Quixote Ciudad Real airport after the hero who is fighting imaginary opponents of the author Miguel de Cervantes , has aggravated the trouble . The name was changed to Ciudad Real Central.

According to the administrator, isolation and good transport legaurile might be useful to companies involved in aircraft maintenance , their long-term stationing or other similar business .

Administrators hope that a final decision on the eventual auction had earned to be taken up in February.