Still waiting for take off

It is now less than two months for the date given for the commencement of flights from Castellón Airport and there is still nothing definite to report.

Last week at a conference under the title “The impact of the airport on the Castellon economy” Juan Garcia Salas, Director of the Castellon airport, admitted that we’ve done things wrong and we have made mistakes although he did not specify what they were and made a plea to ensure that that planes arrive and the infrastructure is profitable.
He was subjected to questions from the audience, who insisted on the fact that the infrastructure continues without airplanes. Several audience members posed questions to the airport director. Among others, a German woman, who focused upon the fact that 8,000 Austrian tourists had to come through Reus last year because the airport of Castellón was not operational, a circumstance that will be repeated again this year. Salas Garcia said he went personally to Austria to ask pardon of the president of Austria for not having been able to achieve the airport.
Garcia Salas defended the airport as necesarry to put Castellón on the world map. He stated that its execution is an investment and not an expense. Acknowledging failure, he said the important thing is that the balance is positive and for it we work. In this regard, he urged the tourism sector and the Administration to begin selling what Castellón has. We have to package our product better, we have things we have not been able to exploit. Those who think it is crap, think that is your crap and you have to sell it and start to extol its advantages and not its shortcomings, he said bluntly.
As for the arrival of the first flights, Garcia Salas said it was almost almost seven months since the submission of the necessary documents for approval and, within 15 days, they will be visited by the technicians. But that is not enough. Those who bring the planes are the tour operators or companies and that rests not with me but with the tourism sector, he said. That is why we urge hoteliers in the room to start working to add value to the province, recognize that the product offered by the province is not the best in the universe and they have to improve the offer.
Garcia Salas also spoke about the search for a manager after the breaking off of the contract between the Generalitat and Airport Concessions. He said, we have to determine if Aerocas edoes this itself. If it has to do it, and that’s the order I receive, it will and if it has to outsource to another company it would would be done.
With regard to air traffic control, the airport director announced that the next council is expected to award the air traffic control to Saerco. Aerocas has had to re-process the file after the withdrawal of the previous award.