Teruel Airport in eastern Spain is Europe's largest industrial airport. It might look like a plane junkyard, but most of the airplanes are waiting for the chance to fly again.
Where jumbo jets go to sleep —
Teruel Airport in eastern Spain is Europe's largest industrial airport. It might look like a plane junkyard, but most of the airplanes are waiting for the chance to fly again.
Miquel Ros
It hosts aircraft from all over the world that have been withdrawn from service, be it temporarily or permanently, and caters to their maintenance needs.
Withdrawn from service —
It hosts aircraft from all over the world that have been withdrawn from service, be it temporarily or permanently, and caters to their maintenance needs.
Miquel Ros
Some are ready to fly but need to wait for financial or legal issues to be sorted out first. Some are here because the airlines that own them need to temporarily adjust capacity to cope with fluctuating market conditions.
The waiting room —
Some are ready to fly but need to wait for financial or legal issues to be sorted out first. Some are here because the airlines that own them need to temporarily adjust capacity to cope with fluctuating market conditions.
Miquel Ros
Teruel's arid climate is ideal for storing the aircraft with minimum deterioration.
Perfect conditions —
Teruel's arid climate is ideal for storing the aircraft with minimum deterioration.
Miquel Ros
Teruel is one of only a few such facilities on the planet. There's one near Pau in France and another in the Mojave Desert in the United States.
Exclusive club —
Teruel is one of only a few such facilities on the planet. There's one near Pau in France and another in the Mojave Desert in the United States.
Miquel Ros
Teruel is also home to a whole range of other aviation-related activities, including drone and rocket-engine testing and pilot training.
Other activities —
Teruel is also home to a whole range of other aviation-related activities, including drone and rocket-engine testing and pilot training.
Miquel Ros
The troubles undergone by Russian airlines Transaero and UTAir have led to a recent influx of Russian airliners of all types, some of them almost new from the factory.
Russian economics —
The troubles undergone by Russian airlines Transaero and UTAir have led to a recent influx of Russian airliners of all types, some of them almost new from the factory.
Miquel Ros
An planned expansion of the airport grounds that will allow for more than 200 airliners to be stored simultaneously.
Expansion —
An planned expansion of the airport grounds that will allow for more than 200 airliners to be stored simultaneously.
Miquel Ros
While the airport isn't typically open to visitors, plane spotters can easily check it out from the nearby highway.
Plane spotting —
While the airport isn't typically open to visitors, plane spotters can easily check it out from the nearby highway.
Miquel Ros
The huge ghost airport where planes go to sleep
CNN  — 

On a cold, dry plain in rural eastern Spain, 1,000 meters above sea level, a surreal scene greets drivers speeding along the Mudejar Highway inland from the Mediterranean Sea.

Line after line of enormous jumbo jets appear silhouetted against the horizon. It’s not a mirage, but the site of the largest industrial airport in Europe.

Don’t call it a junkyard

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Dog's very important airport job
01:02 - Source: CNN

Located outside the town of Teruel, the smallest of all Spanish provincial capitals, this is not a typical airport or tourist destination. There are no check-in desks, departure lounges, luggage carousels, coffee shops, taxi stands or shuttle buses.

For the simple fact that there are no commercial flights here – and there never were.

This airport was built with other purposes in mind. It hosts aircraft from all over the world that have been withdrawn from service, be it temporarily or permanently, and caters to their maintenance needs.

What it’s not, however, is an aircraft junkyard.

Some aging airliners may be scrapped here (after being stripped for valuable parts and spares) but plenty of new, perfectly serviceable aircraft are stored in Teruel.

Some are ready to fly but are waiting for financial or legal issues to be sorted out. Some are here because their airlines need to temporarily adjust capacity to cope with fluctuating market conditions.

Other activities

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Delta Airlines jets at the terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgeia on September 12, 2009. AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER (Photo credit should read KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)
Close call at world's busiest airport
01:09 - Source: CNN

Teruel isn’t just a storage facility.

Director Alejandro Ibrahim says it’s also home to a whole range of other aviation-related activities, including those in fields with high growth potential.

“Since the airport opened we have already welcomed a company testing rocket engines, he says. “We have been active in the field of drone research and we will soon have also a pilot training center here.”

There are few such storage facilities on the planet.

20 planes for flying buffs -- from Boeing to Airbus

There’s the Mojave Air and Space Port, in the Californian desert, where the arid climate creates an ideal environment for plane storage.

Another near Pau, in southern France, has run out of space, so its managing company, Tarmac Aerosave, is looking for other locations – Teruel being an obvious choice.

This type of facility requires a lot of free land – something Teruel has in abundance.

The airport’s located in a corner of Spain so sparsely populated that in recent years locals launched a public investment campaign using the slogan “Teruel existe” (“Teruel exists”).

For storing aircraft though, it’s perfect.

It has a dry continental climate and a relatively accessible location – between Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia.

Russian connection

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World's largest plane makes historic landing
02:00 - Source: Seven Network

Demand for aircraft storage has been driven by the meteoric growth of the global airliner fleet following two decades of industry liberalization.

Juan Manuel Gallego, engineer and CEO of aviation consultancy firm ICARUM, says sudden contractions in aircraft demand mean the operations like Teruel are regularly called upon.

“The dynamism of the airline industry leads to a substantial number of aircraft needing storage facilities at any one time, either because of obsolescence or because airlines are constantly seeking efficiency improvements through fleet renewal and optimization,” he says.

Vintage fliers: Lufthansa restores historic aircraft

On top of this, Gallego says, nonpassenger-related activities are being pushed out of major hub airports, as space is at a premium and passengers tend to be more profitable.

An unexpected additional factor has also played a key role in the Spanish airport’s meteoric growth and consolidation: the Russian economic crisis.

Near capacity

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CNN's Clarissa Ward is on board a U.S. Air Force KC-135 refueling Stratotanker, accompanying two U.S. F-22 Raptor fighter jets to Romania.
How to refuel a fighter jet in midair
01:10 - Source: CNN

Transaero and UTAir, the second- and fourth-largest Russian airlines, had a terrible 2015, with the latter axing most of its fleet and the former ultimately ceasing operations.

The result has been an influx of Russian airliners of all types, some of them almost new from the factory, that has brought the airport to near capacity.

A further expansion of the airport grounds, that will allow for over 200 airliners to be stored simultaneously, is already being planned.

Photo opportunity

Some aviation enthusiasts might find it heartbreaking to see nearly a hundred airliners, including quite a few magnificent Boeing 747s, standing idle, quietly awaiting their fate.

While some others may relish the unparalleled opportunities for plane-spotting and to capture this unusual spectacle on camera.

We opted for the latter.

Aeropuerto de Teruel; Poligono de Tiro, 4; 44396 Teruel, Aragon, Spain; + 34 978 617 742

Miquel Ros is an aviation blogger and consultant. An economist by background, he’s worked for Flightglobal and Bloomberg. He currently covers the airline industry through Allplane.tv.