Across
crisis-stricken Europe ‘ghost’ airports have freshly painted tarmac, shiny new
doors and all the nuts and bolts in place - but no passengers and no airplanes,
giving them an eerie aura.
RT. reports soaring
costs have delayed the ribbon cutting ceremonies, as Europe’s worst recession
in 100 years has killed the projects.
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The
European Commission dispensed millions of euro in funding to boost the
infrastructure at regional airports, but they are waiting for travellers and
planes that never came, and have become symbols of reckless spending.
“The
difficulty you have with the European Union is that ultimately it has all this
money that it wants to divest in patronage through grants and all sorts of
different sinecures, throughout the land of the 28 nations, and it wants to try
and make an economic impact,” Patrick Young, a
financial expert, told RT.
People
in Brussels “believe money grows
on trees, that is the fundamental problem that is pushing the EU towards
breaking point,” Young said.
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Poland,
which joined the EU in 2004, and has been lauded by the Commission for its
economic reforms and financial responsibility, received over US$125 million
(€100 million) to help build and upgrade 12 airports.
Lublin
and Rzeszow are in the forested and hilly east part of the country and haven’t
yet opened. Lodz airport was given a facelift, but has failed to attract
passengers as it’s located just a 50 minute drive away from Warsaw, the
country’s largest airport Lodz opened in 2012.
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Poland
received €615.7 million from the EU to support these financial black holes
between 2007 and 2013, according to figures provided by the European Commission
to Reuters.
The
airports failed to attract budget airlines to operate flights in between the
small cities and bigger hubs.
“The
relationship between the local airports and low-cost carriers is suicidal,”
Jacek Krawczyk, former chairman of Polish national airline LOT told Reuters.
Poland
is not the only country in Europe to spend fortunes on white elephants.
To
the south, Spain received the second biggest allowance from the EC to build
airports, which are also failing to attract commercial flights. The situation
is so dire that one of them, Ciudad Real airport in central Spain, is up for
sale at 10 percent the price it cost to build. The airport opened in 2008 and
cost €1.1 billion to construct, and closed in 2012, and it now has a price tag
of €100 million. No commercial flights have operated since 2011.
On
the eastern coast, the €150 million Castellon-Costa airport in Valencia built
in 2011 has never seen a single plane land. The runway isn’t long enough to get
the license needed to run commercial flights. The airport’s operator
anticipates it will serve 50,000 passengers in 2015, and 200,000 by 2017.
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Around
80 airports in Europe attract fewer than 1 million passengers a year and about
three-quarters of those are in the red, according to industry body Airports
Council International.
Germany
has spending problems as well when it comes to airports. Berlin’s Brandenburg
airport will likely need another €3.2 billion to finally open its doors on top
of the €5.4 billion already spent.
Berliners have been waiting
for their new facility to open since 2011, but will likely have to wait until
2016 or 2017. It is located south of Berlin next to Schonefeld Airport which is
currently operating.
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