Forecasts are just that, estimates, and they are not always met. This has happened with the plans of the Generalitat de Catalunya for the Lleida-Alguaire airport, dependent on Aeroports de Catalunya, inaugurated in 2010 with a public investment of 95 million euros. The then Regional Minister of Territorial Policies, Joaquim Nadal, assured in his day that this infrastructure aspired to transport 50,000 passengers in its first year in operation, and grow to reach 395,000 annual travelers in a decade. But none of this has come to pass. Twelve years after its launch, Alguaire is far from these figures.
This summer, in fact, it has even lost passengers compared to 2021, according to data published by Aeroports de Catalunya. Air demand has skyrocketed this summer around the world and in Spain in particular, approaching the record figures of 2019. But the Generalitat's infrastructure has not benefited from this recovery in demand. On the contrary. Both operations and passengers have decreased between February and August compared to the same period last year. In August (last month with available data), this airport had 1,035 operations compared to 3,081 in 2021. It transported 3,284 passengers, while in August of the previous year it reached 5,473 travelers. Industry sources also assure that the Alguaire airport accumulates negative years, although from the Department of Territory and Digital Policies, in the hands of Jordi Puigneró until Pere Aragonès expelled him from the Executive, they have not wanted to comment on this point.
In the latest budgets approved by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the airports under its management had an allocation of 16 million euros.
La Seu d'Urgell airport, on the other hand, presents a better commercial activity. Despite the fact that operations have also decreased this 2022 (except in January, one of the months of maximum demand thanks to snow tourism), passengers have increased compared to 2021 in all months. However, these are very modest figures. The month that registered the most passengers was June, with 1,057 people. That is, about 35 passengers a day.
From the Generalitat they emphasize that they are refocusing the activity of the Alguaire airport from the initial commercial model to the industrial one. It is no longer primarily a passenger airport, they stress, but an industrial and aerospace one. The efforts and public subsidies to airlines to fly there (Ryanair was one of the beneficiaries, but abandoned the activity) did not bear fruit. Currently, the only promotion agreement in force is that of the Air Nostrum Lleida-Palma de Mallorca route.
The Catalan Government is thus promoting industrial uses in this infrastructure. Among them, the maintenance of aircraft or tests with drones or rockets stand out. In 2020, the Generalitat invested 26 million euros to convert the Lleida-Alguaire airport into an aerospace technology center. Time will tell if this time the forecasts are fulfilled and it manages to take off.
