Chinese consortium Tzaneen International has been awarded rights to the land and buildings, including the 4,100m-long runway, hangars and control tower, at the abandoned multi-million Euro airport Ciudad Real.
Spanish media reports state Tzaneen's bid of EUR10,000 (USD11,000) was the only one received during a court bankruptcy auction held last week. Under the terms of the agreement, Tzaneen does not, however, have rights to the passenger terminal or the parking lot.
The consortium says it intends to develop the airfield into a gateway for Chinese firms into Europe.
Located 235km south of Madrid, Ciudad Real was intended as an alternative to Madrid Barajas airport when it opened in 2008. Hailed as Spain's first privately built international airport with a EUR1 billion price tag to boot, the airport opened to low demand with Ryanair (FR, Dublin International), Vueling Airlines (VY, Barcelona El Prat), Air Nostrum (YW, Valencia Manises), and Air Berlin (1991) (Berlin Tegel) all pulling their respective services by 2011.
In April 2012, the airport was closed after just three years in operation. Its management company, CR Aeropuertos, subsequently entered into receivership with debts of over EUR300 million.
Start-up Kriber Air Lines (Zaragoza) had planned to develop the airport into a cargo and passenger hub but its bid of EUR40 million was deemed by a Spanish Court of First Instance and Instruction to be too low.
