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

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 focused on the Balearic and Canary Islands”.

Gándara admits that, in Madrid, they are not ready to start growing yet and reckons they will end 2014 slightly under 2 million passengers. “Since the day we closed the Madrid base in 2012, we have noticed it is no longer the main airport for us in passengers; now it is Barcelona, where we have grown again this summer, by 1%. There, we are still under 3 million passengers”.

For 2015, easyJet expects an overall growth of about 5%. In Spain, the growth will be 3% though. However, when it comes to the Canary or the Balearic Islands, Gándara confirmed they are expecting passenger increases of over 10%. Nevertheless, in Madrid we will remain the same or slightly reduce our figures. For the next season, the airline will open 11 new routes in Spain. Out of these new destinations, 6 will be in Tenerife South. In May, Gándara had already announced that they were finalising a plan to open routes in Spain in 2015. At that moment, they were already planning to grow by 3% in Spain in 2015.

Aena privatisation

With regard to Aena’s IPO, Gándara said Aena has taken many steps towards its privatisation of 49%. After the last interruption in that process, another stop would greatly damage the credibility of the country. Precisely, last week Aena announced through a press release that they have received 3 requests for the audit service tender: Ernst & Young S.L., PricewaterhouseCoopers Auditores S.L. and KPMG Auditores S.L.

The tender is expected to be awarded in mid-December. Then, the deadline for the work to be finished is February 12, which is the final date for the IPO.

Photo: Easyjet A319 at Lanzarote airport by Andy Mitchell / Wikimedia Commons