Juanma, who his friends defined as “extremely cautious, methodical, a first-rate instructor and with an exquisite education”, he worked – before arriving at the Cordoba aerodrome – at the Aena Learning Institute (IADA), where he served as a trainer for employees assigned to jobs closely related, precisely, to those he himself would have at the airport.
Of 59 years old old, he was passionate about aviation, not only from the point of view of airport management, but also (and above all) as a pilot. “He accumulated flying hours as much as possible and spoke with real enthusiasm about his experiences in the air. This strong connection with the aeronautical world explains why he participated in the team that would shape what would later become UCO Aviation“, they explain from Aena.
Juanma was in love with Cordoba and he felt that the airport belonged to him. “He always welcomed you with a smile; was helpful and very thorough in his work. His loss is irreparable,” his colleagues emphasize.
Commercial flight promoter
He devoted himself entirely to the fact that the long road to achieving the goals commercial flights will end well, without sparing his efforts. “The flight with Prague, during the long weekend of December 2023, and the inauguration of the two Air Nostrum lines, in July of this year, were happy. It was a whirlwind that moved between the terminal and the aircraft parking area,” remember those who worked side by side with Romero.
He charcoal drawing and photography They were also part of his hobbies; the latter in communion with his son, who sometimes helped to follow in images the aeronautical emergency exercises that his father coordinated at the airport to keep the self-protection plan up to date.
Among the drawings that Juanma made, the one he gave to the Former airport director Sonia Martínin his farewell, where he recreated the arrival of the flight with Prague. “Sonia, like Amelia Quintero (the current director, for whom she has been an essential pillar in carrying out the hard work of these months) and the rest of her colleagues mourn this tragic event,” they emphasize from Aena.
His colleagues point out that “it was very difficult to start this Monday without seeing Juanma sitting in front of his computer, without feeling him going back and forth between the terminal and the Aena offices,” without hearing his smile. rest in peace“.
