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A group of Chinese investors has bought the abandoned airport at Ciudad Real for €10,000 after submitting the only bid for the facility at a court bankruptcy auction.

Airport Ciudad Real1 300x225 - Chinese Group Buys a Spanish Airport for €10,000Last Friday, Tzaneen International was awarded the land and buildings, including the runway, hangars and control tower at Ciudad Real Central Airport in Castilla-La Mancha – the first major airport to be built in Spain with private investment.

However, the Chinese group will not control the terminal or the parking areas, according to the terms of the tender.

Little is known about the group except that it is an “investment vehicle” registered some months ago in Spain with the sole purpose of taking part in the court-sponsored auction.

According to papers filed with the Mercantile Register, the group listed €4,000 in capital from China but stated that members of the consortium include both Chinese and European investors. It also explained that “various Chinese companies” are interested in using the airport as “a gateway to Europe” for their importing businesses.
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On 19th November 2000 during the inauguration of La Paloma, the Bilbao International Airport, architect Santiago CALATRAVA announced that the new terminal was “a message of love to Baskland”.

White and very expressive, Bilbao International Airport is a gigantic three storey block of steel and glass with a sharp silhouette expressing the idea of flight and the leap that the metropolitan area had begun to take.

The steel and concrete structure , nicknamed La Paloma (the Dove) because of its resemblance to a giant bird about to take flight, is integrated into the hilly green landscape in the Txoriherri Valley in close proximity to Bilbao. The aluminium skin of the Central Terminal sweeps across the 140 meter long terminal entry, providing cover for multiple levels of arrival and departure.

The layout was designed to limit the impact of auxiliary buildings on the vista of the main building. An elegant four-story parking structure, with a skylit walkway leading to the Terminal Building, is tucked into a grassy embankment.

Bilbao Airport - Contemporary Architecture in Spain: Bilbao Airport, Basque Country
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