Teruel Airport in eastern Spain has become a parking facility for aircraft affected by the war involving Iran, which has led to airspace closures and flight rerouting across the Middle East. The airport has become a refuge for commercial aircraft fleeing the war in the Middle East providing temporary storage and safe parking for planes diverted from conflict zones.
Five more Qatar aircraft were transported to the airport in eastern Spain yesterday. A total of 25 aircraft have arrived by the end of Sunday 22 March 2026, of which 22 came from Qatar Airways. Ten wide-body jets landed on Friday, including an A380 from London, A350s, and a Boeing 787.
The airport normally handles about two aircraft daily as a former military base in Aragon province that sees limited regular traffic. With capacity for 250 wide-body and up to 400 narrow-body aircraft, sttate-owned Teruel is one of Europe’s largest aircraft maintenance and storage hubs, and had around 140 aircraft park there over two years during the Covid pandemic.
Alejandro Ibrahim, general manager of the terminal, shared “Companies are revising their fleets and routes and looking for safer places to park their planes, and Europe fits the bill. We’ve acted as a refuge and supported global air transport. We’re working week to week because there’s no clear horizon and it really depends on the companies how this could all develop in the coming months. What we would like is for (the conflict) to end, because our important business is aircraft maintenance. The more planes fly, the greater activity our airport has.”
