Well Im not too sure what to make of the new Murcia International Airport, having travelled through it in both directions last week.

The facilities on the public side amount to a coffee bar and a couple of vending machines while, airside, a single vending machine is expected to cater for those awaiting flights. There are not enough seats at boarding points with many passengers required to stand for long periods and if your flight is delayed you could be a very tired individual by the time that you are called forward.

But the flights are rather cheaper than Alicante-Elche which saw an 11.2% rise in passengers during January while in Murcia, the first data published by airport management company Aena since the changeover from San Javier, shows an 8% fall.

This is the first year-on-year fall in passenger numbers since September 2016, and comes despite the number of flights increasing from 374 to 428.

The reason for this could be that the new location at Corvera is a less attractive destination for those flying into the southern Costa Blanca or Costa Calida although I found the journey from the Orihuela Costa rather easier to Corvera than that to Alicante-Elche.  Nevertheless the switch could take some time to prove a success.