A pair of thoughts.
Lately, I found many times, in forums like this, the almost obsessive tendency to compare the NUM Cavour with the BPE Juan Carlos I, and sincerely I don't understand it.
This is a matter of very different ships, conceived and designed for purpouses very different and therefore dedicate us to compare one with the other is like to compare pears with oranges. Each one of us have our favorites, we like more one fruit or another but both are obviously a different thing, comparisons between them are IMO a waste of time.
In the case of the BPE Juan Carlos I, we are talking of a LHD designed to operate
always inside a group of force projection or an amphibious tasks force for humanitarian or relief missions. For that reason their limitations in velocity, fixed-wing air capacity, the disposition of a dock for LCMs, LCACs, etc... be the ones that are.
On the other hand we have the Cavour that was conceived AFAIK as a STOVL Aircraft Carrier with marginal amphibious capacity, and whose primary role is to act as nucleum of an Aircraft Carrier Tasks Force and vector of air-sea projection independently or in support for an Anfibious Task Group. From there its characteristics optimized to that role. Something that the BPE not. Similarly, restrict the operation of the Cavour to be integrated inside an amphibious group with slow (and mainly defenseless ships), where its greater speed would be wasteful and their capacity of tactical independence would be seriously limited.
I understand comparisons between the Spanish BPE and French Mistral, both are LHDs in the same league (excluding the sky-jump detail) with some diferences but in the core of their desings the same or very similar mission and objectives in their conceptions.
The fixed wing capacity of the BPE was a particular requeriment of the Spanish Navy derived of our permanent need for a STOVL aviation vector available. Given that, the Spanish Navy accord to postpone its decision about the replacement of the R-11 Principe de Asturias (PdA), and inmersed in the dilemma F-35C or F-35B, the long mid life update and refit that awaits to the PdA, and the more than debatable capacity of the R-11 for the F-35B. The Spanish Navy decided for including in its requests to Navantia the sky-jump in the BPE. That we must recall it wasn't present in the first designs. For that IMO is not a mater of second aircraft carrier sought (like was in the Italian case) but a LHD that allow to the Navy step with the BPE in the occasions when or where the PdA was unavailable to be deployed and we needed a naval fixed-wing vector for air support. And, at the same time secure a stop-gap measure while the future of the STOVL version (B) of the F-35 is clarified over the next few years.
Other important detail to this was the official dissolution of the Alpha Group (The Spanish Aircraft Carrier Task Group) and the Delta Group (Spanish Amphibious Task Group) to form a new single tactical force projection unit, the Group of Projection.