Astonishing Spanish airport: yours for a euro?

Ciudad Real airport has become one of the eeriest testaments to the financial crisis. It was built in 2008, at a cost of over €1billion, but after the financial crisis hit, the company behind it collapsed, and the airport closed. Now it's up for auction - and there's no reserve - which means it could go for a song.

The airport was built at the peak of the boom, when nobody could imagine the financial pain that was on the way. Spain's economy seemed as if it would never stop growing, so a new airport - connected to both Madrid and the coast by high speed rail in less than an hour - seemed like just the thing it needed.

The cheap borrowing available meant that companies could borrow enormous sums easily for massive projects, so the funding was no problem to come by.

By the time it closed in early 2012, the picture looked very different. The parent company went into administration, and the judge in charge of the debt ordered that it be sold with an asking price of €100 million. However, according to The Olive Press, no buyer ever came forward, even after dropping the price from €100 million to just €40 million, so it will go up for auction without a reserve.

The Daily Mail pointed out that the sum it fetches will depend entirely on the interest on the day. With the economy still struggling, and the new owners having to take on hundreds of millions of pounds worth of debt, there's every chance that investors will be highly wary. It means there's the chance it could go for a single euro.

The question is whether it's worth it? Will an investor swoop in and make a fortune from a thriving airport? Or is it set to gradually fall apart without a buyer: a white elephant that becomes the ultimate symbol of the folly that brought us to the financial crisis?

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