Corvera International Airport has been given consent to allow a traffic of 3 million passengers when it opens in 2012. This is an increase on the initial forecast of 1.5 million. Work on Corvera Airport is continuing on schedule with plans to open in early spring of 2011.
In previous years, San Javier was achieving 2 million passengers through its gate however in 2010 this dropped considerably to 1,350,000. Many blame Ryanair who withdrew all their winter flights in protest against the subsidy row and who decided this month to withdraw 80% of their winter flights to Alicante following a dispute over walk on traffic with the Airport Authority. Rumours are spreading that Ryanair may possibly move to Corvera although there has been no official announcement. Now that San Javier has opened the second runway which allows morning flights, perhaps this may be increase the traffic back to Murcia.
Local research from Murcia University has shown that both holidaymakers and expats from Murcia frequently use Alicante and that 40% are from areas which would be closer to Corvera than Alicante.
A team of British journalists, courtesy of Jet2 have visited the area to promote the region as a holiday destination. This, combined with the new Corvera Airport and The Paramount Resort can only help to raise the profile of the region of Murcia and bring more holidaymakers to the area.
