If you were asked about the busiest airport in Spain during the Covid-19 pandemic, names like Madrid or Barcelona would surely come to mind. However, the truth is that only Teruel Airport in Aragon, Spain has been confirmed as the busiest in the country's aviation rankings, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
So why is Teruel Airport - an airport with no passengers - the busiest airport and operating at full capacity despite the pandemic season?
Airport without passengers
Unlike other tourist-heavy regions of Spain, the tens of millions of tourists who visit the country each year know little about the remote countryside of Teruel. Even among Spaniards, Teruel is just another rural area that few want to visit because there is little to do there.
However, Teruel Airport is still very busy even though there are no passengers because the main users of this place are the planes themselves, not the tourists. In other words, this place is a Resort for airplanes!
The climate in Teruel is dry and not too hot, making it an ideal place for aircraft to rest without fear of breakdowns or long-term maintenance costs. Normally, airlines with excess capacity cannot keep their aircraft at hub airports for too long due to high parking and maintenance costs and insufficient storage capacity. Therefore, airlines need to park their aircraft long-term at certain locations as a "storage" and Teruel is the most popular destination in Spain.
"Teruel's weather is extremely suitable for 'resting' aircraft. Here, aircraft can be parked for a long time without needing maintenance. Moreover, they will also be in the best condition until the airline wants to use them again" - said a spokesman for Lufthansa.
Teruel is currently home to Tarmac Aerosave, an aviation company that provides aircraft maintenance, storage and repair services for airlines.
Therefore, with the Covid-19 pandemic devastating the aviation industry, a series of unused aircraft have been brought to Teruel for maintenance or "rest" waiting for the day to return to operation. This has caused Teruel Airport to operate at full capacity to the point of running out of space and becoming the busiest airport in Spain despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Always overloaded
One of the airlines that has aircraft based in Teruel is Air France. Due to the complicated epidemic situation in France, this airline has grounded 180 of its 224 aircraft. Most of them are kept at Paris or Toulouse airports, but many old A380s are brought to Teruel for standard maintenance to keep them in the best condition when they return to operation.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa Airlines transported its entire fleet of A340s to A600s to Teruel for a 2-3 month vacation until the Covid-19 pandemic has passed and the airline's operations are restored.
Teruel airport’s capacity is estimated to be around 125 at any one time, but many planes are pulled into storage for maintenance or repair, so the actual capacity could be slightly higher. Had it not been for Covid-19, the last time the airport was at full capacity was in 2015 when Russia’s second-largest airline, Transaero, went bankrupt and was forced to park a number of planes at Teruel until they could be liquidated.
Pedro Saez - Director in charge at Teruel airport of Tarmac Aerosave aircraft maintenance company said that normally the company only has about 66 aircraft on vacation here, but during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has increased to 109.
Million dollar asset maintenance
Maintaining, servicing or repairing aircraft costing hundreds of millions of dollars will take a lot of time and effort. According to Air France, a maintenance cycle of 1 to 3 months will cost about 150 working hours of specialists. That is not to mention the separate maintenance cycles for old or damaged aircraft.
Aircraft maintenance is also very selective of labor because it requires qualified experts to be able to handle the work. Usually, in the initial stage before maintenance, parts such as engines, vents or important areas of the machine need to be carefully covered and protected to keep them from being damaged during maintenance.
This is followed by routine checks such as moving the aircraft to reduce tire pressure, restarting the engines, and providing regular power to maintain the systems. When the aircraft is called back into service, it will take two days for the factory to remove protective equipment and perform a series of tests before leaving the factory.
Obviously, aircraft maintenance is not a simple job and with more and more airlines choosing Teruel, this airport is truly becoming a rare case in the aviation industry that is "very healthy" thanks to Covid-19.
