Cheap flights to Spain

Iberia in the red

2008-05-14T15:45:00.002+02:00

Iberia Airlines has published negative results for the first quarter of 2008. In fact, Iberia has announced losses of 400,000 euros for this period compared to a profit of 12.2 million euros for the same period last year.

This situation has been caused by the drop in the number of passengers and a negative operating result valued at more than 28 million euros as well as the rise in petrol prices which have seen costs rise by 25.6% with 327.4 million euros spent on fuel costs.

During the first three months of 2007 Iberia spent 260 million euros on fuel which is just 1.2% more than for 2006. However, the cost of fuel for the first quarter of 2008 now represents 24.6% of the total operating costs for Iberia. The price of Brent oil on the stock market has gone above 100 dollars a barrel and its average cost has been 65% more than for the same period last year. Fortunately for Iberia the fall in the value of the dollar has compensated for approximately a third of the impact of this hike in oil prices.

With a view to the future, Iberia has presented an offer for its rival Spanair in order to try and compete against other low cost airlines in Spain as well as the AVE which has taken customers away for one of Iberia’s most profitable routes between Madrid and Barcelona. In addition to this it is promoting the fusion of Clickair with Spanish low cost airline Vueling in another attempt to reduce competition.

In April Iberia announced a 3 point drop to 78.4% of occupied seats partly due to the early Easter break this year. The biggest drop was in long haul flights with a drop of 1.9 points from an occupation of 87.9% to 86% followed by domestic flights which have dropped 1.1 points from 71.1% to 70% occupation.

Iberia also announced that its offer of average seats per kilometre has gone up by 1.1% while the demand from passengers per kilometre transported has gone down by 2.4%
Fernando Conte, the president of Iberia, warned earlier this week that Iberia was not immune to the world economic situation in which the US economy is experiencing a serious slump.

Cheap flights from Cardiff to Barcelona

2008-05-09T10:04:00.002+02:00

BmiBaby launches new route between Barcelona and Wales

The low cost airline bmibaby has announced that this month it will start operating a new route between Cardiff and Barcelona. As from 24th May there will be two flights per week on Tuesday and Saturday and from 18th June onwards there will also be another flight on Wednesdays.

Tickets for the new route are already available from BmiBaby and cost from 24.99 pounds (approximately 31€), taxes and charges included.

The best offers, subject to availability, can be obtained by reserving online. Tickets are limited during the summer holiday period and no refunds are available.

Tickets reserved using a debit card are subject to a 2% charge on the total amount paid for the ticket and those reserved using a credit card are subject to a 3% commission. Passengers travelling from Cardiff can use the bmi executive lounges and the bmi online check-in system. Consult the bmibaby website for more information and online booking.

Cheap flights from Manchester to Alicante

2008-05-06T11:38:00.001+02:00

Tickets for easyjet’s new route between Manchester and Alicante are now on sale.

The new route will begin operating from 29th September 2008 and will have four flights every week between Alicante and Manchester during the winter months. Prices vary from as little as 27.99 pounds for one way tickets and 47.98 pounds for return tickets, tax included.

This new route is expected to be especially popular for families and people takng a short break. Easyjet hopes to carry around 60,000 passengers on this route in its first 12 months of operating.

The Commercial Director of easyjet in the UK, Carly Brear, said that it was the first route that easyjet has introduced in its new base in Manchester and that the company hoped to expand its routes from Manchester in the near future.

Carly Brear also went on to say that Alicante is a popular destination from its other bases within the UK and that now passengers in the northeast could take advantage of this new service from their base in Manchester airport.

Tim McDermott, the Director of Aviation in Manchester airport said that he was delighted that easyjet had started to expand its routes from Manchester with the announcement of its new route to Alicante, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.

Possible fusion between Clickair and Vueling

2008-03-04T10:40:00.001+01:00

The Managing Director of Clickair, Alejandro Cruz, has not ruled out the possibility of a fusion with Vueling, an option which he says now depends on ‘time and shareholders’. He went on to say that both companies are Catalan airlines that use the Airbus A-320 and operate similar routes from Barcelona.

Cruz affirmed in an interview with the magazine Efe that ‘shareholders are speaking amongst themselves’ although he also said that no definite plans had been made yet.
Cruz stressed that in his opinion something has to happen in the Spain airline industry but he also said that a fusion between Clickair and Vueling, both low cost airlines, was complicated and involved competition, personalities, reputation and money.

With regards to the sale of Spanair, Cruz said that there were many possible combinations from the purchase of Spanair by Iberia following the sale of Clickair to the union of Vueling and Air Nostrum or the acquisition of Spanair by Air Nostrum. He added that until concrete plans were made the company he directed could not give its opinion.

Cruz said ‘Nothing convinces me that the final solution lies in the purchase of Spanair by Iberia although nothing forbids Gonzalo Pascual from bidding for the airline. However, SAS has not said anything with regards to the offers it has received for Spanair’.

Cruz also stressed that ‘the Spanish air market would not be the same in six months from now’ He said that Clickair would be in a fantastic position to support these changes given that it was the most efficient operator in Spain with the least costs in terms of infrastructure and the most productivity in terms of planes and air crew as well as the best record of punctuality.

Bidding for Spanair ends today

2008-02-15T17:38:00.000+01:00

The Swedish airline SAS has announced that today is the last day in which offers for the Spanish airline Spanair can be presented within the bidding process for the sale of the airline.

The assistant director of communications for SAS, Claus Sonberg, has refused to comment on the level of offers received so far saying that is was a ‘confidential process’.

The Swedish airline said it regretted that Marsans had withdrawn its bid. The
president of the Spanish tourism consortium, Gonzalo Pascual, said that the decision had been taken due to the difficult situation in the air transport market in Spain and because it was expecting to agree another deal with SAS.

The Spanish airline Iberia is bidding for 100% of Spanair, together with the group Gestair.

Cheap flights to Canary Islands with frills

2007-10-05T15:43:00.000+02:00

Jet2.com Plus! - new system to upgrade cheap flights to Spanish destinations

Low-cost airline Jet2.com has launched Jet2com. Plus, a new service for passengers prepared to pay for special treatment during their flight for Spain.

Customers flying to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote who are willing to pay £25 one-way or £45 return (per passenger) for an upgrade to Jet2com.Plus will be entitled to the following perks:

Priority check-in
Fast security checks (where available)
A drink in the VIP lounge before the flight
Seating in the front cabin
An in-flight meal which contains chocolates and complimentary drink (excluding champagne) . On early morning flights a wake-up breakfast meal will be served. Passengers can select from vegetarian or non-vegetarian options when making their flight booking online.

Jet2.com Plus can be purchased both online 3 working days before departure or at the airport on day of travel subject to availability. The service is non-refundable and is not available for children under 12 years.

Jet2.com operate flights to:

Lanzarote from Leeds-Bradford, Manchester and Newcastle aiports
Gran Canaria from Leeds-Bradford, Manchester, Belfast and Newcastle aiports
Tenerife from Leeds-Bradford, Manchester, Blackpool, Belfast and Newcastle aiports

This new upgraded class is only available on flights to the Canary Islands.

Online purchase of cheap flights

2007-10-04T08:42:00.000+02:00

Irregularities detected in seven websites selling online airline tickets

The Spanish National Consumers’ Institute has analysed 12 web pages run by airlines and travel agents selling online tickets following complaints by consumers.
On 27th September this year the 12 internet sites which had received the most complaints were investigated by the National Consumers’ Institute in a joint operation with other EU member states when web pages were scanned for fraudulent special offers.

As a result of this investigation 7 of the web pages were found to contain misleading publicity on special offers such as free flights that didn’t take into account extra charges such as airport taxes. Both Ryanair and Vueling were included in this group.

Ryanair, Iberia, Spanair and Vueling had special offers advertised on their websites which could not be found when the investigators later searched for them. Furthermore, the website belonging to eDreams was found to refer to geographical areas that did not correspond to the airports listed for departure or arrival.
The National Consumers’ Institute also found irregularities regarding the legal requirements that these sites need to fulfil. The web pages belonging to Ryanair, Transavia and Tuy-Fly were found to contain sales information in Spanish but the terms and conditions of flying were only offered in English.

No irregularities were found in the web pages belonging to Air Berlín, Atrapalo.com, Rumbo and Easyjet.

Flybe launches frequent flyer scheme

2007-07-16T09:35:00.000+02:00

The low cost airline Flybe has announced the launch of a new frequent flyer scheme whereby regular passengers travelling on Flybe flights will be able to earn points each time they fly and then exchange them for flights or for access to the airline's executive aiport lounges.

Flybe's frequent flyer scheme is called Rewards4all and it is open to both leisure and business travellers. Once registered, members will be earn points automatically each time they book. The points can be exchanged for benefits on the following basis:

16 Reward Points = 1 return UK Economy flight
20 Reward Points = 1 year Executive Lounge Access
22 Reward Points = 1 return UK Economy Plus flight
24 Reward Points = 1 return European Economy flight
30 Reward Points = 1 return European Economy Plus flight

Flybe's new frequent flyer scheme will be available in the next few weeks and passengers open their Rewards4all account on the airline's website.

Flyebe flies to the following destinations in Spain: Alicante, Malaga and Palma.

Low cost flights in Spain

2007-07-03T08:57:00.000+02:00

Spain is the Second European Country with the most Low Cost Flights

Low Cost airlines now make up 25% of the market in Spain compared to the average for the rest of Europe, which is 16%. According to the European Organization for Air Navigation Safety (Eurocontrol), Spain is the second country in Europe after the UK with the highest number of low cost airlines operating from its airports.

At a seminar in Barcelona yesterday the Managing Director of Eurocontrol, Víctor Aguado, said that the low cost sector grew by 36% in Spain between January and June 2007 and that corporate aviation grew by 15%. In corporate aviation Spain accounts for 5% of the European market whereas this figure rises to 10% for countries like the UK, Germany and France.

Aguado also said that in 2020 up to 70 airports in Europe will be saturated and encounter problems operating normally, although this forecast doesn’t take into account planned airport expansions. In this respect Madrid and Barcelona airports will be well placed to meet future demands.

Eurocontrol predicts that air traffic will increase by 9.3% in Spain this year and by 7% in 2008 this is above the European average which is 5% for this year, and that in the period 2007-2012 there will be an annual growth of 4.1%. The growth rate is expected to continue steadily in the long term until 2025.

According to this prediction 2 million flights will operate from Spain by 2011 and this figure is expected to rise to 3 million by 2025.

Víctor Aguado also said that Madrid and Barcelona are the best connected cities in Europe with 46,000 flights per year which is double the air traffic between the second most connected European cities Milan and Rome.

According to Aguado Spanish airports perform very well compared to the rest of Europe. When there are air traffic problems in Europe Madrid comes 7th and Barcelona 18th.

Monarch Summer flights to Spain

2007-07-01T10:37:00.000+02:00

Special Summer Offers by Monarch

The airline Monarch has launched an attractive offer on all flights with up to 75% discount on all routes operated by the airline. Under the motto ‘Escape the rain and enjoy the Spanish Summer’.

Monarch is offering a massive reduction on flights: up to 75% discount on the price of flights. This offer is valid until 5th July 2007 so you are advised to book as soon as possible.

Special Offer Conditions:

Discounts. The discount up to 75% depends on the type of fare
Reservation Dates: All bookings must be made before midnight on 5th July 2007
Discounts are available on any Monarch flight to Spain and on any date
Routes. The offer covers all routes and flights. See the map for further details.

Iberia Summer Flights 2007

2007-06-27T10:59:00.000+02:00

Iberia has launched a campaign called ‘Iberia - Basic Prices’ for cheap flights this summer 2007. The company hopes to compete against other low cost airlines and their constant special offers.

Iberia’s Offers of Flights at Basic Prices

Conditions and duration of Iberia's special offer:

You need to buy your ticket before the 29th June
Flights can only be made up to 6th September 2007 (depatures)

Prices per journey (applicable to return tickets only) are:

Flights to and from the Balearic Islands starting at 23 euros
Flights within the Peninsula starting at 25 euros
Fights to and from the Canary Islands starting at 45 euros

All prices include tax and handling charges. There is an increase of 5 euros per ticket for outbound flights only. For more details consult the Iberia website.

Spanair strike affects 7000 passengers

2007-06-26T09:39:00.000+02:00

Strike by Spanair cabin crews left 7000 passengers stranded

The Independent Union for Cabin Crews (Sitcpla) says that yesterday’s strike was supported by more than 50% of its members and caused 75 flights to be cancelled (35% of Spanair’s programmed fights yesterday) and left 7000 passengers stranded at airports throughout Spain. The strike was called to protest at the loss of disposable income, excess work loads and staff shortages. Spanair flights which were still in operation yesterday were delayed around 40 minutes.

Yesterday’s strike affected mostly Madrid-Barajas airport. Spanair was forced to cancel 4 flights between Madrid and Coruña, 6 between Madrid and Alicante, 10 between Madrid and Bilbao, 2 between Madrid and Granada, 4 between Madrid and Jerez, 6 between Madrid and Malaga, 4 between Madrid and Pamplona, 2 between Madrid and San Sebastian, 8 between Madrid and Valencia, 2 between Bilbao and Jerez and 4 between Madrid and Vigo. In addition 2 flights between Madrid and Copenhagen , 2 between Madrid and Frankfurt, 2 between Madrid and Zürich and 2 between Madrid and Vienna were also cancelled. According to Spainair the rest of yesterday’s scheduled flights operated normally.

In Madrid-Barajas airport dozens of passengers affected by the strike had to queue since first thing in morning at Spanair check in desks and at the company’s offices at airports. No incident were reported according to official sources. However, passengers complained that they hadn’t been warned about the strike until their arrival at the airport. AENA has stated that the strike by Spanair cabin crews did not affect other operations in Barajas airport.

Further strikes have been called to take place on the 1st, 9th, 15th and 31st July and the 1st and 15th August.

British Airways (BA) staff also called strikes in Madrid and Barcelona airports (Barajas and El Prat airports) although no flights have been cancelled and all BA flights operated normally. British Airways was criticised for ‘irregular practice’ because they substituted staff on strike with staff flown over from London.

Lost baggage on Spanish flights

2007-06-11T12:01:00.000+02:00

Spanish airlines Iberia and Spanair lose 12 cases for every 1000 passengers

Iberia and Spanair lose around 12 cases for every 1000 passengers they carry according to figures just released from the European Association of Airlines (AEA) for the first quarter of 2007.

However, these figures are better than the average for other European airlines which lose on average 15.4 cases for every 1000 passengers. Out of 24 airlines included in the study Iberia came 12th followed by Spanair.

The best airline in this respect was Turkish Airlines which only loses on average 4.3 pieces of luggage for every 1000 passengers. Air Malta came second losing 5.8 cases and third place was occupied by Tarom Romanian which loses on average 7.6 cases.

All the other large European airlines included in the study performed worse than Iberia and Spanair. Alitalia loses 14.5 cases for every 1000 passengers, Air France 14.9 cases, Lufthansa 15.4 cases, KLM 17.1 cases, British Airways 24.7 cases (!!) and the worst airline was Portuguese TAP which loses on average 29.9 cases for every 1000 passengers.

New personal information system on flights to Spain

2007-05-24T15:25:00.000+02:00

Next month British travellers flying to Spain will be required to give specific personal information before boarding their flight, according to a new US-style entry procedures applied by the Spanish airport authorities which will come into force on 13th June.

The new rule, issued by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior will apply only to countries that are not signed up to the Schengen treaty, an agreement which allows free travel, without presentation of a passport, between EU member states that signed the treaty. Britain is not a Schengen member.

The system about to be enforced by the Spanish government is known as API (Advance Passenger Information) and, according to the new regulations, passengers who do not submit the required information (including full given names, surnames, nationality, date of birth and number of travel document – passport or ID) risk being barred from flights. Travellers to Spain will be required to give the information either to the travel agency or, if they have booked online, at the check-in desk. If the airlines fail to provide the Spanish authorities with the API information of passengers on board, they face fines of up to 60,000 euros.

Some airlines fear delays because of the fact that the check-in on flights to Spain will now take longer, although some airlines are expected to create mechanisms to enable them to get the information prior to check in to avoid delays.

Easyjet has already announced this on its website, although it is still not clear exactly what the procedure will be: “As a web based company easyJet will collect this information in advance online and will shortly announce details of what passengers need to do, by emailing affected customers with details of the new procedure. Information will also be available on our website. EasyJet is aware of the change in requirements and is working with the Spanish authorities to achieve compliance as soon as possible”.

British Airways has already adapted its online booking system, enabling passengers to enter their API information via the Manage my Booking facility. Passengers making an online booking with BA will be prompted to supply the information at the time of booking or prior to arrival at the airport. The airline also intends to set up a self-service kiosk at airports where passengers will also be able to enter the necessary information.

Record number of flights programmed for May 2007

2007-05-12T10:20:00.000+02:00

According to a report by OAG, a company that analyses the aviation industry, there are 2.51 million flights programmed for the whole world this month which is 5% more than the same month last year and more than the historic maximum recorded in August 2006 which only reached 2.49 million.

This figure is 113,827 flights more than in May last year and 17.7 million more seats. Spain has experienced one if the largest increases in the number of flights with 100,000 more than in May 2006, a growth of 16%.

The low cost flight sector in Spain has registered a 22% increase over the last year with 70,000 more flights than in May 2006 a 26% increase in the number of seats which is approximately 12 million more seats available.

For example low cost flights in Barajas airport in Madrid have increased from 2% in 2003 to 10% of the total flights just four years later.

It is a similar story In Barcelona where the low cost flight sector has grown significantly and now accounts for more than 23% of total flights. In 2003 this sector only made up 10% of total flights. In Malaga low cost flights have grown from 34% to 47%. However, Palma de Mallorca has the most low cost flights. This month they made up 52% of total flights.

Overall there has been a 68% increase in low cost flights for the whole of the country which works out at 2.5 million more seats available on such flights.
The route which has shown the highest increase is that between Western Europe and Africa, this month there are 2,200 more flights operating between the two continents than this time last year, a 13% increase. However, flights from or to Latin America have registered the smallest increase from 55,336 flights last year to 55,437 this May.

Nevertheless despite the good prospects for the aviation industry some ecological groups say that they are worried about possible repercussions on the climate. Kevin Anderson, a climatological researcher from Manchester University, believes that expansion in the aviation sector contradicts efforts to combat climate change. He explained that although the growth in this sector was good news for share holders it was bad news for the climate and ‘for our children who will pay the price in the future’.

Ryanair lowest fares

2007-05-11T17:18:00.000+02:00

Ryanair has launched a new offer whereby if customers find a cheaper return flight on one of the routes included in this deal, Ryanair will pay double the difference between the air fare paid to Ryanair and the lower fare quoted by another low cost airline which should include, in both cases, all taxes, fees and charges, and exclude credit/debit card fees, baggage fees, web check-in/priority boarding fees or any other optional fees.

Although it sounds like a fantastatic offer, there are quite a few conditions in the small print which might actually make it quite difficult to find a cheaper flight. For instance, the departure time of the competitor airline must take place within 1 hour of the Ryanair departure times and in order to qualify for the “double the difference” payment, a passenger must book a return flight on www.ryanair.com and then submit the claim using the attached form (English only) to within 1 hour of making the booking, so you have to be very quick.

Furthermore, Ryanair will only verify competitor fares from 9.00 to 17.00 from Monday to Fridays, so weekend claims are impossible as are any lower fare claims outside office hours.

Despite the fact that Ryanair chairman has said that he does not expect that his company will have to pay outmany claims during this promotion because his airline offers the lowest fares, the offer puts a limit of €100 (GBP £70) compensation on each claim.

Take over of LTU by Air Berlin

2007-03-28T08:54:00.000+02:00

Air Berlin buys competitor LTU for 140 million euros

Air Berlin has bought its competitor LTU for 140 million euros and has taken on debts of up to 200 million euros owed by the company. The deal is waiting for the go ahead by the German antimonopoly authority.

Air Berlin is planning to finance the take over by selling more shares and taking out a loan of around 250 million euros. A company spokesperson stated that the extra shares would be equal to 10% of its total shares and that most of the money would consist of a convertible loan.

LTU will continue to operate as an independent company under its own management and will keep its own logo in the medium term while its European routes are incorporated into Air Berlin’s own network of routes.

Air Berlin calculates that the operation will produce annual takings of between 70 to 100 million euros taking into account the savings in costs by merging activities such as sales and by combining the two fleets of planes. The deal means that Air Berlin will become Europe’s fourth largest low cost airline in Europe following Ryanair, Air France/KLM and Lufthansa.

According to Air Berlin LTU operates 15 medium distance flights and 11 long haul flights to destinations such as The Dominican Republic, the US, Thailand, the Canary Islands, Turkey and North Africa. Last year it carried 5.3 million passengers and had over 2000 employees. On the other hand, Air Berlin carried 16.8 million passengers in 2006 and had 4000 employees. It had a fleet of 93 planes all operating on European or North African routes.

Last year Air Berlin took over an airline called dba in order to set up a large low cost company with domestic and international flights. Following this takeover Air Berlin operates more than 600 routes everyday.

Air Berlin’s President, Joachim Hunold, defended the deal saying that his company was responding to market forces.

Auction for holidays in Spain

2007-03-13T10:52:00.000+01:00

The Travel Auction section of The Guardian today is offering 4 holiday auctions to popular destinations in Spain's Costa Blanca and the Canary Islands. The offers include flights and accommodation. Bids close on one of the offers today and on the other three tomorrow. Details of all four holiday auctions below (please note that all prices are taken from the latest bid at the time of writing):

Five tickets to Gran Canaria in self-catering accommodation for one week Departing 19th March from Birmingham Airport 08:30 and returning on 26th March from Gran Canaria at 13.50. The price on this holiday for five is currently £370.00
12:50
Four tickets to Costa Blanca, in self-catering accommodation for one week. Departing Humberside on 31st March at 16.50 and returning from Alicante on 7th April at 13.20. Current bid - £ 307.00
Three tickets to Fuerteventura in self-catering accommodation for one week. Departing on 21st March from East Midlands airport at 07.00 and returning on 28th March from Fuerteventura at 13.10. Current bid - £ 131.00
And finally, three tickets to Tenerife for one week in self catering accommodation. Departing on 27th March from Bristol Airport at 10.00 and returning from Tenerife on 3rd April at 15.10. The price for this holiday is currently £ 280.00

All four holidays have been launched in the Guardian Auction Site by Thomson and are subject to a £20 per advertised ticket booking fee charge. Transfers, in flight meals and insurance are at extra cost. Anyone wanting to bid must be over 18 and must register with the site before bidding. Winning bidders must ring 0870 167 6476 within 48 hours of the auction closing. Lines are open 8am - 4pm Mon-Fri.

Free flights from Ryanair

2007-02-22T09:39:00.000+01:00

In a typically provocative gesture, Ryanair has announced the release of one million free flights if Ireland beat England in the 6 Nations rugby match due to be played at Croke Park in Ireland on Saturday 24th February.

The offer - 1,000,000 FREE FLIGHTS WHEN ENGLAND CHOKE AT CROKE - was announced yesterday by Peter Sherrard of Europe's most successful (and loudest!) lowcost airline. He said that the Ryanair wanted to give Irish fans the opportunity to celebrate by flying free of charge to England so that they could boast about the victory and to give English fans the chance to avoid the humiliation of television replays by flying free of charge out of the country.

Sherrard expressed the airline's confidence that the Irish team would win their 4th consecutive victory against England this weekend. If they do then Ryanair will issue the million free tickets on the morning of Monday 25th February and they will be sold on a first come first served basis. The tickets available will be one way and the offer excludes taxes and charges.

Easyjet's CEO interviewed by El País

2007-02-19T11:16:00.000+01:00

Last Thursday Easyjet, one of Europe’s largest Low cost airlines, opened its new base in Madrid and today El País publishes an interview with Andrew Harrison, Chief Executive Officer of the company who has managed to increase Easyjet’s profits by 56% in his first year as CEO.

In the interview, when asked whether Eastjet was going to include taxes and handling costs in its advertised prices, as recommended by the European Commission, Andrew Harrison said that all Easyjet clients had the chance to see the final price before reserving their tickets on the internet. He also said that taxes raised prices considerably and that it was important for Easyjet clients to see the cost of flights and taxes separately.

He said that the biggest difference between Easyjet, Europe’s fourth largest airline, and other traditional airlines was his company’s efficiency. He said that the company had invested a lot in new planes and that it used modern technology to cut costs and that it was a very focussed business.

In fact Eastjet will receive its 100th new Airbus this April and has ordered another 100 airbus to be delivered by 2010.

Possible merger of Easyjet with other lowcost airlines.

When asked about plans to merge with other airlines Andrew Harrison told El País that the company’s priority was what was best for its clients although he could not rule out mergers in the future. He said that in five years time the company would be twice as big, something which in his opinion would benefit both Easyjet clients and shareholders.

He said that the company operated 6% of short haul flights within Europe and that this would increase to 10% within five years.

Online seat selection with Jet2.com

2007-02-16T10:22:00.000+01:00

Jet2 announces online seat selection on all its flights.

According to a press release sent out today, the lowcost airline Jet2.com has launched two new online perks for passengers:

Online Seat Selection for all Jet2.com flights and
Online Check-in on all routes from the UK & Amsterdam.

meaning that travellers can choose a seat and check-in from the comfort of their own home or workplace. The new system is called Stress-Less.

Online seat selection to Spain
This service is available on all flights. Jet2 operates cheap flights to the following Spanish destinations: Alicante, Almería, Barcelona, Ibiza, Malaga, Menorca, Murcia, Palma, Tenerife and Valencia. Holiday-makers flying to and from these airports can now choose their seat at any time - during online reservation or up to 5 hours before departure. Obviously the earlier the seat is chosen, the more likely passengers are to get the best seats. Online seat selection will be particularly useful for large groups and families wishing to sit together.

Online check-in on flights to Spain

Online check-in is also available for people with a valid EU pasaport on flights to the above destinations, but only on outbound flights from the UK. Online check in can be carried out 28 days or less before departure and closes 5 hours before the flight is due to leave. It is best to wait until the day before the flight is due since name and date changes are not possible once passengers have completed online check-in

Related: Online check in with low cost airlines

Free flights to Spain with Ryanair

2007-01-31T09:39:00.000+01:00

Ryanair is offering 250,000 free flights. The conditions under which these flights are on offer are the following:

Reservations can be made until 01/02/07 for flights during the whole of February (this is a great opportunity to go somewhere different on St Valentine’s Day)!
Flights cost a nominal fee of 0.01€
Tax and costs per journey will not exceed 17.51 €
This offer is subject to availablity and covers flights from Monday to Sunday.

The offer includes some very attractive options....

To Madrid from París, Roma and Oslo plus other destinations...
To Barcelona (Girona or Reus) from Brussels, London and Paris plus other destinations...

Ryanair also flies to the following Spanish destinations, all of which are included in this special offer: Almeria, Fuerteventura, Granada, Jerez, Malaga, Murcia, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Sevilla, Tenerife Norte, Valencia, Valladolid, Vitoria/Gasteiz and Zaragoza.

New airports in Spanish cities

2007-01-30T12:28:00.000+01:00

El Mundo has published a report on Spain's newest airports. According to the report many Spanish cities are looking for their own place in Spanish airspace given that almost all of flights in Spain are concentrated in Barcelona, Madrid and other main tourist destinations such as the Mediterranean, the Canary islands, Mallorca…

With Barajas (Madrid airport) transporting over 45 million passenger and El Prat (Barcelona airport) 30 million Spain’s smaller airports in provincial cities throughout the country come far behind that figure. This has led to an initiative in which smaller Spanish cities are now looking at the possibilities of opening or expanding their own airports.

Ciudad Real, will be the first city to build its own airport under a privately financed scheme. According to Juan Antonio León Triviño, President of Ciudad Real’s Chamber of Commerce, a new airport for the city will have a knock on affect for the whole city. He believes that it will lead to more employment, a larger population and new housing for the city.

Don Quijote Airport airport will come into operation this year with the objective of transporting up to 10 million passengers in the future. It is hoped that it will make the city one of Spain’s most important communication points. Don Quijote airport will be located 200 metres from the main railway station (the AVE connecting Sevilla and Madrid stops there) as well as important motorways running close to the city.

Given that 8 out of 10 tourist fly to Spain it is hoped that opening or expanding existing airports in smaller cities over the next few years will help maintain the number of tourists visiting the country. The government is planning to invest 241,392 million euros in improving transport in Spain under the Strategic Transport Project 2005 –2020 of which 6.5% will be invested in air travel.

Low cost air travel, which grew significantly in 2006, is also changing air travel in Spain. Although low cost airline companies tend to operate mainly from Spain’s most important airports and main tourist destinations it is hoped that Spain’s smaller airports could start to attract low cost airlines in the future.

Ryanair flights to Alicante

2007-01-26T16:07:00.000+01:00

Alicante airport (El Altet) has confirmed that passenger numbers only grew by 1% in 2006. It also said the Irish low cost airline, Ryanair had been negotiating operating some routes from the airport, something which would create direct competition with its main rival Easyjet who already operate from the airport.

According to sources from Ryanair negotiations are at an advanced stage and flights could begin soon. The Irish company already operate some flights to Valencia and Murcia. However, nothing has been officially confirmed yet.

Negotiations with Ryanair are taking place at a time when El Altet is undergoing expansion. A new terminal is being built in order to avoid the congestion suffered in previous years. They should also act as an incentive for other airlines who operate from the airport, especially Easyjet, which at present is the largest operator at El Altet.

Ryanair, which has been operating from Spanish airports since 2003, carries more passengers than Lufthansa, British Airways, KLM, Air France or Iberia. It currently operates from 17 airports in Spain with a total of 117 routes to Europe. Last year El Altet, only grew by 1% and didn’t reach its target of 9 million passengers. Significantly passenger numbers from the UK went down by 0.3% while passengers from Spain rose by 11.1%.

With regards to the ranking of companies operating from Alicante, Easyjet is the first company with 9,936 flights (-1,3%), followed by Iberia with 8,759 flights (-2,5%), Spanair with 5,557 (+74,4%), Thomsonfly with 4,724 (+90,2%), and Air Berlín with 4,592 vuelos (+12,2%).

More low cost airlines flying to Madrid

2007-01-24T11:02:00.000+01:00

According to information gathered in December by the Tourism Studies Institute, Barajas is now the third most important airport for international passengers using low cost flights in Spain (Barcelona and Malaga are still ahead of Madrid).

Barajas received 143,850 passengers travelling low cost, an increase of 96.7%. This increase was registered when Ryanair, the Irish low cost company, started operating flights to Madrid last November. According to AENA Ryanair carried 35,807 passengers in December (arrivals and departures). Given that Easyjet carried over a million passengers to and from Barajas last year it is expected that the number of passengers travelling low cost will increase in February when Easyjet open their new base in Madrid.

Overall Palma de Mallorca had the most low cost flights last year, mainly with Air Berlin, followed by Málaga. The third place was taken by Barcelona although Alicante saw an increase of 21.7% in passengers travelling low cost while Tenerife Sur saw a rise of 48%.

Low cost airlines have continued to win a larger share of the market in Spain, carrying a total of 17.4 million passengers (31.6% of all arrivals) in 2006. However their rate of growth has slowed down. Passengers travelling low cost rose by 30.8% in 2005 in contrast with a rise of just 14.7% in 2006.

See: Guide to Madrid