The Chairman of the Provincial Council, Francis Rodríguez, suggested that Granada Airport should lose the 'Jaen' part to its complete name.
He said this because he had the feeling that the province of Granada alone bears the burden of promoting the Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén Airport and its flights.; i.e., the Provincial Council of neighbouring Jaén isn’t pulling its weight.
Francis Rodríguez said, “We should reflect on whether it makes sense for Granada Airport to also bear the name of Jaén, if their provincial institution does not share this objective and does not allocate resources to it.”
It was 20 years ago that the Junta decided that Granada Airport be shared with Jaén, but Chairman Rodríguez has now issued a direct message, prior to this he has made other attempts to get the Jaén Provincial Council to bringing more flights to Federico García Lorca Airport.
Bear in mind that the Granada Provincial Council is governed by the conservative PP, whilst Jaén’s, is governed by the socialis PSOE, so there is political point scoring going on here.
At the January regular Plenary Meeting of the Granada Provincial Council, a motion was approved (with only the socialist group voting against it) urging the Spanish Government and the Jaén Provincial Council to take measures to strengthen the competitiveness and connectivity of the Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén Airport.
The motion also highlighted the urgent need for the Spanish Central Government to reduce the airport charges established by Aena, since at the time, one of the low-cost airlines stated that these charges had become “an obstacle” for airlines to consider establishing new routes to Granada as viable.
In this sense, as Granada understood it, these fees hindered the economic profitability of operating at the Granada airport, and that’s why they asked the Central Government to lower them. This was something that the socialist party in the Provincial Council did not support, nor did they support asking the provincial government of Jaén for this airport support. Bear in mind that the Central Government is controlled by the socialist PSOE.
To understand the current state of the Provincial Council regarding flights, two key factors need to be considered. One is the 2-million-euro promotional plan that the Granada provincial institution has launched. With these contracts, they are seeking flights to France, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. The French airport to Nantes has already been secured, while a new one to Porto is expected to arrive soon, and Sierra Nevada could become a ski resort for the Portuguese.
The other key point is that the Central Government has just announced future investments for all national airports, and the Provincial Council (that of Granada) found it completely insufficient.
The Granada Provincial Council in last month’s Plenary Meeting, in its last session in September found itself (again) with the socialists voting against a PP motion urging the Spanish Government and Aena to revise upwards the planned investment for the Federico García Lorca Airport.
The Central Government set an investment of €22 million for Granada, but in the opinion of the Granada Provincial Council, compared to the money received by other airports, this represents “an unacceptable insult.”
Editorial comment: the question is, does the provincial socialist group care more about not criticising their socialist Central Government over and above interests of the province of Granada, specifically the airport?
(News: Granada, Airport, Vega, Granada Andalucia)
Keywords: Provincial Council, Jaen, Pulling its weight, Central Government, Airport Name Change, PSOE, PP
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