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Monthly Archives: December 2014

AENA’s press release on Vitoria airport Standard

vitoria platform - flickr

Last 26th December, Aena published a press release. The following is the translation:   The Cabinet approves applying the same airport fees to any flight operating to night-operational airports.  This measure benefits the Vitoria airport which currently has night-time operational hours. 26th December 2014 The Cabinet approved a Royal Decree about financial sustainability measures for Autonomous Communities and Local Entities in which is included a modification of Air Security Law 21/2003 that affects airports with opening hours between 00:00 and 06:00 local time. Consequently, with the aim of supporting the performance and promotion of tourist flights during the day in…

Air Horizont is the name for the new Zaragoza based airline Standard

Zaragoza airport terminal by Juan50300 - Flickr

The new Zaragoza based start-up we were expecting has already got a name. According to the information provided by FranjaDigital.com, Air Horizont informed Aena that they intend to operate two weekly frequencies with three new destinations: Munich, Rome and Seville. This would be the first part of their plan. Later, they may incorporate up to four more routes from Zaragoza i.e. Málaga, Alicante, Gran Canaria and Bologna. Some of these routes were already operational in the past, but eventually disappeared. With regard to, Málaga and Alicante, they would be started again to compete with the high speed train services (AVE). Apart from the new routes…

Air Europa has slot problems before beginning its inter-island flights Standard

Air Europa, A330 landing at Madrid airport / José Luis Celada Euba

As reported by El Mundo, last week at an intervention in a conference of economists from the Balearic Islands, Juan José Hidalgo (President of Air Europa) reviewed his entire business career, which he defined as “very difficult”, and he took advantage of the occasion to repeat his dedication to Mallorca and the Islands in general. During which, he reminded that his company pays taxes there and that more than 3,000 people carry out their work in the headquarters of the company in Llucmajor. At the event, Hidalgo emphasized that his hope for inter-island flights is serious and he announced that…

Volotea chose Asturias for the first base in Spain Standard

Boeing 717-200 Volotea Airlines EI-EXI by russavia / Wikimedia Commons

On October 27 we informed that Volotea would open up to 5 bases in Spain. The first one was expected for the north of the country, either in Bilbao, Santander, Vigo or Asturias. Last week Carlos Muñoz, CEO of Volotea,  confirmed to ElComercio.es that Volotea chose Asturias for the first base in Spain. The low cost airline will start to base its aircrafts there in May. Nevertheless, they will offer flights during Christmas this year – on the 19, 23, 26 and 30 of December – to Palma de Mallorca. On April 3 they will start operations with 2 weekly flights to Valencia. After this first destination, they…

Castellón airport is already operational Standard

Castellón airport Terminal by Sanbec / Wikimedia Commons.

As anticipated in this blog, Castellón airport was expected to start operations yesterday. And so they did. In a piece published by 20Minutos, they informed that the final permit was received from AESA  – the Spanish air safety agency – on Wednesday. Thus, Castellón airport is already operational and, in fact, yesterday the first flight landed there. It was a helicopter with two passengers on board. They flew from a nearby airfield, 10 minutes long to the brand new airport. Apparently, they read in the press that the airport was starting operations, so “we filed the flight plan, we got it approved…

Plus Ultra aiming to start operations in the first quarter of 2015 Standard

A9C-LG A343 in a basic Gulf Air color scheme before being painted as Plus Ultra by John Taggart / Wikimedia Commons

It’s been three months since Plus Ultra received its first airplane- an A340, previously property of Gulf Air, but Plus Ultra still doesn’t have its Air Operator Certificate (AOC). This is the reason why the plane remains parked at the Iberia facilities in Madrid´s airport with the ensuing expense. According to preferente.com, the long range flight airline propelled by the ex-executive of Air Madrid Julio Martínez, is spending between 1,000 and 2,000 Euros daily on keeping the A340 indoors, according to the marketing manager Rony Nahón. The sum changes depending on the place the plane occupies since it “sometimes has…

EasyJet: “Growth in Spain is focused on the Canaries and the Balearics” Standard

Easyjet A319 at Lanzarote airport by Andy Mitchell / Wikimedia Commons

EasyJet has left behind the passenger loss in the Spanish airports suffered as a consequence of the Madrid base closure at the end of 2012. The British carrier had a passenger gain of 6% this summer with regard to 2013. They are confident that they will end the year with an increase of 2.5%. According to the information published by CincoDías, Javier Gándara – director of easyJet in Spain and Portugal – said “this year we will grow to reach 12.3 million passengers compared to the 12 million that we transported in 2013”. He added that “growth in Spain is totally…

Murcia Region: Another airport for Aena in the Mediterranean Standard

La manga del Mar Menor, in Murcia by Enrique Freire / Wikimedia Commons

Last week Vozpopuli announced that the government of the Autonomous Community of Murcia has given Sacyr a one week period to obtain a bank guarantee covering the loses for the first years of operation. Failure to obtain the guarantee would result in the definitive loss of the grant, which would be handed over to a new entity. That entity could be AENA. The president of the Autonomous Community, Alberto Garre has already announced that it would participate in the tender. Garre had promised in May that Corvera would open in October or November. However, the date was delayed until the…