There are at least three projects for airlines based in the Canary Islands. You may remember our post Summarizing the ongoing Spanish startups, published in October 2013. Out of those 4 projects, Evelop is already operating. With regard to the projects for the Canary Islands, Preferente.com recalled those two to announce a new possible startup: Bird Blue Air Line.
According to this information, none of this project has started so far. Mainly due to the entrepreneurs lack of confidence.
Bird Blue Air Line is the last proposal on the Tenerife’s Government desk. Sources from the project said the airline would cost approx 20 million Euros. The target is to solve the lack of connectivity between the Canary Islands and the rest of Spain. They aim to reach better prices for tickets which would also benefit the islands.
The president of the Tenerife’s Council, Carlos Alonso, is dealing with this project since a few months ago. However, the entrepreneurs have received no answer from him yet. According to the same sources from Preferente.com, the Council was even willing to become a part of the shareholding of one of these projects if eventually one went ahead. But this did not happen.
The airline’s project seeks profitability by operating to Madrid, Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela. But operating inter-island flights as well. This was the Islas Afortunadas plan too, as we had previously explained.
With regard to the fleet, ATR 72 would be leased at Gran Canaria airport – where they would fix the home base – for the inter-island flying. For flights with Mainland they would lease Boeing.
The former director of Travelplan, Luis Mata, was among the first drivers for an airline project with Canary resources. He aimed to connect Madrid with Gran Canaria and Tenerife as from the spring of this year considering the activity left by Spanair which has not been replaced yet.
Jorge Marichal, chairman of Ashotel, keeps trying to create an airline with touroperator. The capital would come from Tenerife. However, it looks like we will have to wait some time for this wish, that entrepreneurs and politicians have, to come true.
Photo: People waiting for departure at Tenerife South airport terminal / Jeremy Page
