The formal tender to run Corvera Airport in Murcia was published by the regional government last Saturday. Prospective bidders have been given 40 days to say they are interested in tendering for the 25-year franchise, which would then be followed by a 60 day period for the bidders to present their detailed plans.
At a formal tender launch at Corvera, Murcia’s Infrastructure Minister, Pedro Rivera, claimed that airport revenues would be nearly 500 million euros over a quarter of a century, and said that the facility at Corvera would make the Murcia region, and adjoining areas, more attractive to all-year-round tourism, as boosting the local economy.
Rivera did not say when the long-delayed Corvera airport would actually open, only to restate that the regional government’s aim is for Corvera to start operating at the same time that the existing San Javier airport closes. San Javier operator(and likely Corvera bidder) AENA is embroiled in a compensation dispute with the Murcia government over a runway that was built a few years ago, and Rivera was forced to admit that he did not know what was going to happen over San Javier, as AENA have not given him a closure date.
