Alejandro Ibrahim: “Teruel Airport is already a European benchmark in the aeronautical sector”

Aeronautical engineer Alejandro Ibrahim has been the managing director of Teruel Airport since its inception over a decade ago. In an interview with ARAGÓN PRESS/ARAGÓN DIGITAL, he reviews the economic impact of the business model, the keys to success, and the pending projects.

He also clarifies the controversy surrounding the storage of the Maestrazgo Cluster’s wind turbines and the appeal filed by Tarmac following the award to López Soriano for aircraft recycling within the new grounds of the facility. Similarly, as president of the Aeronautics and Defense Cluster in Aragon, he speaks about the direct impact on Aragonese GDP and the future of the region through the defense hub.

QUESTION. The airport is growing steadily. Where do you think the ceiling is?
ANSWER . We opened in 2013. We’ve been operating for nearly 13 years, and we continue to set different milestones for growth and strategic planning. Currently, there’s a planned investment of more than €70 million over the next two years. The number of direct employees will reach 1,000.

Q. Added to this is the auxiliary company that pivots around and benefits from it. To what do you attribute the key to success?
A. There are several reasons. First, having chosen the right business model. It’s totally different from the airports in the AENA network. We specialize in industrial aeronautics. The location is also very strategic, and we have a very large capacity for growth. Then, our direct dependence on the Government of Aragon and the Teruel City Council gives us a direct investment capacity in the initial years, and this has allowed us to position ourselves globally as the largest aeronautical parking, maintenance, recycling, and innovation center in Europe. We have become a paradigm within the sector and are working on sustainability, excellence, and innovation, which are three key aspects in aviation.

Q. You talk about the business model. When we think of an airport, we think of suitcases and travelers, but that’s not the case in Teruel. Still, they’re a tremendous logistics hub and capable of diversifying. For example, they have the largest aircraft workshop in all of Europe and they also test rockets .
A. Yes. We have various clients who have concessions and authorizations, some for 25 or even 40 years. They’re long-term businesses. We work in aircraft maintenance, parking, recycling… that was the beginning. Then we have activities like testing these rocket engines. There are also general aviation companies, executive aviation companies, and for the past two years, a company that paints airplanes. We have several materials testing facilities: these are non-destructive tests that analyze materials to monitor the useful life of airplanes. Now, there are plans to build a hangar for airships and manufacture them. It’s a further step.

Q. The foundation stone was laid at the beginning of the year  , and it will be launched at the end of 2026. It’s a major project.
A. It’s very ambitious and was approved a year ago. The work began in February, has been going on for three months, and represents an investment of 40 million euros. It’s the largest project the airport has undertaken since its inception. We’re going to have the largest airship hangar in Europe right now. It will allow these aircraft to be manufactured, produced, maintained, and operated. The client is called Sceye, which is already working in New Mexico (USA). They fly in the stratosphere, that is, at an altitude of 20 km, and it’s a technology that’s growing rapidly. Teruel will be the European center for all this development, which will allow satellite-like communications for firefighting or border control. It’s also for internet network maintenance.

Q. You mentioned earlier an investment of over 70 million euros over two years. In the strategic plan, through the PIGA (Plan of General Interest of Aragon), you’re developing several projects. Also the expansion of the parking lot and the main building…
A. Yes. With a new PIGA (Plan of General Interest in Aragon), we’re expanding a two-million-square-meter lot. In 2017, we outgrew the airport, and we’re in the process of expanding it. This will allow us to have an additional lot to the existing one with capacity for another 70 aircraft. It will be completed in six months and we’ll finish by the end of the year. The investment is 12 million euros. We’re also expanding the apron by more than 120,000 square meters. We’re going to double the size of the terminal. Work will begin in June and will last a year. On the ground floor, we want to build a restaurant area and more offices. It’s also outgrown.

Q. You’re diversifying your business to the point that you’re even hosting the wind turbines of the Maestrazgo Cluster . It’s raised some controversy…
A. We’re an airport, and as part of the growth we’re experiencing during the pandemic, this possibility arose. We had compacted large areas of the airport that were full of planes, and then those areas became free, and we were asked to stockpile materials. But we’re not manufacturers of wind turbine blades, of course, or wind farms. As you mentioned, the largest wind farm in Spain is going to be installed in Bajo Maestrazgo , and while construction is underway, the material will be stored. It comprises 125 wind turbines, with three blades each measuring 80 meters in length. They have a permit to occupy 320,000 square meters. It’s the company CIP, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, which is the largest sustainability investor in the world. Acquiring clients of this size is a source of pride for us. And it generates income, of course.

Q. In figures, that’s about 90,000 euros per month for up to three years simply to maintain those wind turbines for Teruel Airport. That’s about three million euros.
A. Yes. What we’re aiming for there is to provide a public service. In this case, these companies have all the permits and authorizations in order. They need to store this amount of material since the permits with INAGA take time . We’ve reached that agreement, and we already have medium-term plans for these areas that will later be vacated to support future infrastructure.

Q. Aircraft recycling has also generated some controversy in the last year following an appeal filed by the Tarmac company demanding exclusivity over functions at Teruel Airport. Recently, a plot of land within the PIGA (Spanish General Contracting Authority) was awarded to a subsidiary of López Soriano to carry out the same task.
A. We are very respectful of all legal decisions. Fortunately, we are a public entity, and everything works with guarantees. We put everything out to tender with its specifications, the possibility of filing appeals, etc. We put out a plot of land within the new PIGA that was planned to be used for dismantling, and the company Air, part of the López Soriano group, applied and won the tender . We signed the contract in August 2024, and they are developing a project with a planned short-term investment of €15 million on an 80,000-square-meter plot.

Q. What’s the problem with Tarmac?
A. At that juncture, one company expressed some disagreement with this possibility, arguing that it was exclusive to them and that another company couldn’t establish itself. The reality is that, in the initial rulings, both precautionary and extremely precautionary, the court has ruled in our favor, saying that these are new areas of the airport and therefore not exclusive to any particular company.

Q. The company isn’t just any company…
A. This is a global business, not local to Teruel. We have to be clear about that. Tarmac’s clients, whose subsidiary is here, are the Airbus Group, Zafra, and GDFS. They are the world’s leading aircraft and engine manufacturers… we’re not talking about a small SME. Obviously, it faces competition around the world. The AIR Group has been around since 2015 and has recycled more than 90 aircraft. It’s competition, but focused on the dismantling and recycling of materials. At the moment, Tarmac isn’t executing this project, and I think they could reach an agreement by taking steps similar to those they’ve taken with the aircraft painting company, which can also be understood as maintenance. They’ve increased their activity, and a similar situation could happen. We’re not involved in the private business of each company, but I think this will further enhance the airport’s development capacity and offer more services, which is what we’re interested in. It will generate employment.

Q. The aeronautical sector is important for Aragon’s GDP.
A. It accounts for around 4%, including the aeronautical component. We’ve now incorporated the defense sector, which is growing, and the percentage will increase a little more. In Teruel, in a city of 36,000 inhabitants, in a couple of years we will generate 1,000 direct jobs at the airport. In Madrid, the airport accounts for 13% of GDP, and I don’t want to be so ambitious, but we have an annual budget similar to that of Teruel City Council. We’re growing, and these companies have significant potential and scale. Not just the 70 million euros invested in Teruel Airport, but the other 60 million euros that the companies working at the airport will invest. This economic impact has an impact on the entire sector surrounding the airport.

Q. What challenges does Teruel Airport face in the future?
A. The future is yet to be written, but we have a good story. We have moved from a very partial initial activity, which was dismantling, to a growing diversification of activities. We have also announced in recent days a technology center with the Aragon Institute of Technology (IYA), which will be established at the airport to serve the industrial and innovation growth that is being generated. The rockets also continue to operate at a good pace, which implies more investment. We continue to expand the infrastructure to have more recycling activity. Therefore, the future is sustainable, and we must work hard on the circular economy. That’s why Solarig has also announced an investment of more than 1.4 billion euros to create a green aviation fuel plant near the airport. And that will allow us to use that fuel to prepare for sustainability, which is the next step in aviation.

Q. You’ve managed Teruel Airport since its inception in 2013 and are also president of the Aragon Aeronautical and Defense Cluster . How has things evolved in Aragon over these two years?
A. When I arrived in Teruel, there were zero planes, zero people, and zero aeronautical activity. Everything was still to be done. I was hired to get the airport up and running. We’ve gone from having 15 companies to more than 60, and we’ve grown 75% in the last year. Furthermore, now with the defense activity, we’re going to move toward developing our activity. The Aragon defense hub has been set up, in which we participate directly. We’re also working with companies in the aeronautical sector on all projects, both at the industry level and in European projects to participate in innovation issues. And it’s grown in a way that, I’d say, is very impressive. The investment: more than €1,500,000,000, and more than 7,000 people are currently working in this sector.

Q. What impact will this defense hub have in Aragon?
A. It has a long history and has begun, I believe, at a very opportune time. The infrastructure in Aragon is adequate for this, and there are companies in the industrial sector with a significant capacity for development. The investment that the Spanish government is going to make, around 2% of GDP, will boost this area. And in Europe, the 800 billion euros planned for the next four years will help a lot. Let’s really call it what it is: security and defense. We shouldn’t see it as something warlike, but rather as something that will help us have that capacity for self-defense. From the digital aspect, cybersecurity, issues related to new technologies, artificial intelligence… All of this, combined with the data management that is being developed, with more than 45 billion euros that Jorge Azcón already announced in recent days, has dual applications, both for the civilian and military sectors.