Menorca airport control tower: Madrid faces rebuild call

Spain’s Congress is due to debate a call for a new control tower at Menorca Airport next Tuesday. Sumar wants the government to halt a remote tower project and build a replacement on site. The party also wants minimum staffing secured at the airport.

The existing tower was built in 1968 and began operating in 1969. Menorca Airport’s 2009 master plan had already set out the need to replace it, saying the building lacked sufficient room for workstations, new equipment and technical control systems.

Aena commissioned Incosa to assess the tower’s condition in 2014. According to Sumar, the study put its remaining operational life at between five and ten years, meaning the maximum estimate expired in 2026.

Sumar says local reports described plans for a new tower in 2010, but the project was never carried out. It calls Aena’s work on the present building “patches” and says serious structural problems are worsening day by day.

The party argues that Enaire’s remote tower scheme, planned in 2020 for Vigo and Menorca airports, cannot be running within a short time. It is asking parliamentary groups to back the replacement tower, saying this would protect air safety and working and social conditions on Menorca.

Topics: Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com