Chinese buy Ciudad Real Airport for just €10,000

KNOWN as Spain’s ‘ghost’ airport, Don Quixote Airport in Ciudad Real, 200 kilometres south of Madrid, has been sold to a Chinese company for just €10,000.
Opening in 2008, with the aim of handling up to 2.5 million passengers per year, the greatest number of travellers using the airport amounted to just 31,000 in 2010. The airport cost approximately €1 billion to build. Now, the Chinese-owned company Tzarneen International has bought it at public auction in the Provisional Court of Ciudad Real for a fraction of the price, a mere €10,000.
Ridiculed as a white elephant, the airport closed a few years ago in 2012 and the court ordered the sale to pay off some of its debt. The deal includes the runway, air traffic control tower and hangers, but not the terminal building or the car park.
So far, no other company has bid for the airport but the Chinese company will have to wait another 20 days to see if any others bid before it becomes official.