Spain’s abandoned £865m ‘ghost airport’ empty for 14 years to reopen in 2026

Ciudad Real International Airport (Image: Getty)

An abandoned Spanish "ghost airport" boasting one of Europe's longest runways is set to reopen after 14 years. Ciudad Real International Airport has stood largely empty for over a decade and has been used for long-term aircraft storage. But with a new owner, the airfield will reopen its doors and resume passenger flights this year. Rafael Gómez Arribas, Managing Director of Ciudad Real International Airport, said the site will only operate private flights, mainly from Europe and the US.

The airport, located 146 miles south of Madrid, was initially supposed to be Spain's second-largest airport and an alternative to Madrid's Barajas airport. The aviation site cost more than €1 billion to build. Despite plans to be a commercial flight hub for around 2.5 million passengers a year, the site struggled financially because of its remote location. In 2012, just four years after its opening, it went bankrupt, earning the nickname of Spain's "ghost airport".

Ciudad Real International Airport has served as a storage (Image: Getty)

It was eventually converted into a temporary storage facility during the pandemic, and held grounded planes from European airlines while flights were not operating, The Sun reports.

After the airport's closure, large yellow crosses were painted on the runway as a visual warning to planes overhead that the site was no longer operational and the runway was unsuitable for landing.

At almost 2.5 miles, the runway is the tenth longest runway in Europe and can accommodate the Airbus A380, the world's biggest commercial aircraft.