flown approximately 22,000 passengers into or from the airport. The cancellation of the route, which resulted in the loss of 22 jobs, was the result of a breakdown in trade agreements with Ryanair, and financial difficulties being faced by the airport. Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling became the only airline serving the airport at this point, running flights to Barcelona, Paris and Palma de Mallorca, until it eventually ended services on 29 October 2011. By 2012, the airport's financial difficulties forced the management company to file for bankruptcy, after accumulating more than €300 million of debt, eventually going into receivership. By 13 April 2012, all airport operations were shut down, and would remain so for more than 7 years. Reasons for bankruptcy Much of the fault behind the closure of Ciudad Real Airport lay within the following factors. The first factor was centered around the poor planning of its construction. During the early planning stages, some deficiencies were overlooked. The main one was its location in a Bird Special Protection Area (SPA) and in the middle of the inactive Campo de Calatrava Volcanic Field, with the European Union blocking its construction until environmental protection measures had been taken (moving a portion of the protected area and downsizing the airport facilities). This delayed the initial opening for four years (2008 instead of 2004). Meanwhile, in 2006 the main airport of Madrid (Barajas) finished work on an expansion that allowed it to handle 70 million passengers a year, relieving the previously over-saturated facilities. Consequently, all the airlines that had been considering operating from Ciudad Real, chose instead to fly from Madrid, a more convenient option for passengers from the capital, as the distance between Ciudad Real airport and Madrid is approximately , effectively making road journeys to the airport over two hours long. Had construction of a station on the Madrid–Seville high-speed rail line been made, as had been originally planned, journey times to the airport would have been more reasonable – at present, travel times from Madrid to Ciudad Real by train stand at around fifty minutes. But before bankruptcy, only the bridge that would connect the station to the terminal was built. There is also a disused railway station in the vicinity of the airport (Cañada de Calatrava station), but it only provides access to the conventional railway, not to the high-speed one. Finally, the period when the airport first operated