The Región de Murcia International Airport is a new airport currently being built in the Región de Murcia, on the southeastern coast of Spain. The initiative was taken by the Regional Government in response to growing demand, accompanied by a desire to fully develop the Region's tourism potential. The Government put the project out to tender, and in May 2007 a private consortium of seven companies from different sectors, all with strong roots in the Region, was chosen to build and operate the airport for 40 years. Work began in July 2008 and the airport should be fully operational by early by 2011.
2. Investment
This new facility, with an initial investment of 242 million Euros, is designed to handle some 3 million passengers per year in the first phase. Two further phases are planned, the first of which will increase passenger capacity to 5 million, and a second expansion which will take the airport capacity up to 14 million passengers per year.
3. Operations
Designed with efficiency in mind, this category 4E airport will function 24 hours a day, thereby allowing for operations without restrictions, facilities without congestion, and shorter turn-around times. At the same time, the new Región de Murcia International Airport will offer significantly lower fees than any other airports in the area , as well as discounts linked to passenger volume.
4. Tourism
Región de Murcia International Airport will serve as the entry point to one of Spain's fastest growing tourism destinations, where independent travel and second residence accommodation dominate.
A Large Catchment Area
The strategic location of the airport, which offers direct access to a high-capacity highway system, means that the main cities of the Region: Murcia and Cartagena, along with tourist resorts such as La Manga and Mar Menor, can all be reached in less than a half hour.
Communications
Thanks to the outstanding road transportation network, times to other tourist hotspot points like Vera and Mojacar in Almeria, or Torrevieja and the rest of Orihuela Costa in Alicante are also very competitive.
Population
The population of the airport's catchment area (< 2 hours by car) is some 4 million people.
