The airport in Spain where planes go for a long nap

On a cold, dry plain in rural eastern Spain, 1,000 meters above sea level, a surreal scene greets drivers speeding along the Mudejar Highway inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Line after line of enormous jumbo jets appear silhouetted against the horizon. It's not a mirage, but the site of the largest industrial airport in Europe. Located outside the town of Teruel, the smallest of all Spanish provincial capitals, this is not a typical airport or tourist destination. There are no check-in desks, departure lounges, luggage carousels, coffee shops, taxi stands or shuttle buses. For the simple fact that there are no commercial flights here -- and there never were. This airport was built with other purposes in mind. It hosts aircraft from all over the world that have been withdrawn from service, be it temporarily or permanently, and caters to their maintenance needs. What it's not, however, is an aircraft junkyard. Some aging airliners may be scrapped here (after being stripped for valuable parts and spares) but plenty of new, perfectly serviceable aircraft are stored in Teruel. Some are ready to fly but are waiting for financial or legal issues to be sorted out. Some are here because their airlines need to temporarily adjust capacity to cope with fluctuating market conditions. Teruel isn't just a storage facility. Director Alejandro Ibrahim says it's also home to a whole range of other aviation-related activities, including those in fields with high growth potential.<br/>