The Chief Minister held a press conference yesterday 14th May in which he explained in details the plans for the new air terminal.

However, after listening to the news as broadcast by GBC TV and reading the articles on the same subject published in La Voz Digital and other Spanish newspapers, I found that the explanation on the main reason for the construction of a new airport terminal by GBC and the Spanish press are quite contradictive.

In lavozdigital.es, making reference to Mr. Caruana's press conference, it states.

"Caruana destacó que la aplicación de los Acuerdos de Córdoba, en concreto el uso conjunto del aeropuerto del Peñón ha hecho necesario la ampliación y creación de una nueva terminal, aunque puntualizó que no pretende explotar estas instalaciones".

Yet according to the GBC news broadcast, the project would have been required even without the Cordoba Agreement.

One can then therefore only assume that either lavozdigital.es or GBC misheard Mr Caruana's statement, or simply that, as seems to happen rather frequently, one gets a totally different version of the news depending on whether you are on British or Spanish soil.

Referring to the controversial issue of Shengen clearance by Spanish Officials whilst passengers are still at the Airport Terminal, Mr Caruana explained that there will be no Spanish Officials in Gibraltar exercising entry or exit control, that no Spanish Official can deny one entry into Gibraltar or exit from Gibraltar and that no Gibraltar passenger has to leave Gibraltar territory in order to get Shengen clearance from the Spanish Officials.

Spanish Officials will at all times be on the Spanish side of the fence carrying out advanced entry checks into Spain and not exit checks from Gibraltar and will also carry out deferred exit checks from Spain, not entry checks into Gibraltar.

If I understand correctly, when boarding a plane at the Air Terminal from Gibraltar to Spain and vice-versa, whilst there will be no control by the Spanish Officials, Spanish Officials will control Shengen entry and exit.

I my opinion, if that is not playing around with words, nothing else is.

Mr. Caruana further explained that persons wanting to go to Madrid but not wanting to be Shengen cleared by Spanish Officials at the Gibraltar Airport, can simply first cross the border into Spain and then proceed into the Airport Terminal through the entrance on the Spanish side of the frontier, stressing however that people in Gibraltar can distinguish between political mischief making from reality.

So I must assume that if one does not want to be classified as a political mischief maker when flying to from Gibraltar to Madrid or vice versa, one must use the airport terminal's entry and exit on the Gibraltar side of the border and not the entry and exit on the Spanish side of the border. In other words, non political mischief makers using the new air terminal to fly too or from Madrid must be obtain Shengen clearance from Spanish Officials whilst still being in Gibraltar and prior to boarding the aircraft.

Furthermore, since the new airport terminal will have two entry and exit's, one in Gibraltar and the other one on the Spanish side of the frontier, I fail to understand how vehicular traffic into Gibraltar to board the Madrid flights will increase with the new airport terminal, in any case, it should decrease since persons flying from south Spain to Madrid will most probably use the terminal's entry and exit on the Spanish side of the border, so where then is the urgency on providing a new road and tunnel into the new airport terminal?

Cartoon recently published in VOX newspaper

With GB Airways having pulled out of the Gibraltar-Madrid flight route and only days ago, Iberia cutting down it's Gibraltar-Madrid flights, from daily to just weekends, the requirements of a new air terminal, new road and tunnel seem to me like a big waste of time and tax payers money.