Teruel Airport in northern Spain became famous during the Covid-19 pandemic for hosting dozens of commercial aircraft that had been put into storage in the face of the drop in air travel.
Among the distinguished guests were several Boeing 747 and Airbus A380. But Teruel is not just a temporary home for useless planes. The company that manages the site plans to expand maintenance services with the opening of a massive hangar in March.
The huge space is capable of accommodating two A380s at the same time and cost 23 million euros.
The hangar is 200 meters wide and 100 meters deep. A door 184 meters wide and 27 meters high will be installed, consisting of 8 modules that will open to the sides.
As a comparison, Tarmac, a company that disassembles A380 jets, uses a hangar measuring 6,400 m², or one third of the new building in Teruel (20,000 m²).
The plan of the Teruel Airport Consortium, responsible for the work, is to grant the structure to a company to provide aircraft maintenance and revitalization services for 25 years, extendable for another 10 years.
“It is a unique infrastructure in Spain and that will allow us to continue to be leaders in the sector”, said José Luis Soro, president of the consortium.
Teruel was the temporary destination of several A380s during the pandemic as jets belonging to Air France and Lufthansa. The German airline, however, is reactivating part of the fleet in the face of high demand for international travel.
