Spain built a massive airport near Ciudad Real, about 235 kilometers south of Madrid, with a four-kilometer runway capable of handling large aircraft like the Airbus A380, a new terminal, and an overall investment of 1.1 billion euros. The airport, named Don Quichotte after a literary character known for his unrealistic idealism, opened in 2008 during a period of widespread construction and investment across Europe. It was intended to be a major European hub, with a terminal large enough to handle up to nine million passengers each year. However, the airport failed to attract significant passenger traffic, with only around ten thousand travelers in its first months of operation, highlighting the mismatch between the project's ambitions and actual demand. The airport's managing company, CR Aeropuertos, faced financial difficulties and declared bankruptcy in April 2012, owing approximately 300 million euros and laying off nearly 200 employees. The airport was later put up for auction in August 2013, with an initial asking price of 100 million euros, but no buyers emerged. The minimum price was repeatedly reduced, eventually dropping to 28 million euros. A Chinese company, Tzaneen International, made a bid of just 10,000 euros, which was rejected by Spanish courts as too low. The airport was finally sold in 2016 to CRIA, CR International Airport, for 56.2 million euros, though the sale became official only in 2018 due to financial and administrative challenges. Today, the airport is largely used as a storage and dismantling site for decommissioned aircraft, especially during the global aviation crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It was officially reopened in September 2019, with the Irish company Direct Aero Services setting up a maintenance base there. The site also gained some notoriety as a filming location for the 2013 movie Passengers, starring Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz. Despite its initial grand ambitions, the airport now serves a far more practical, if less glamorous, purpose than originally envisioned.