Breaking News

Gran Canaria seats from Germany to increase around 3% Standard

Boeing 737-800 Tuifly Gran canaria airport LPA/ Flickr - Rolf Jonsen

At the International Tourism Fair (ITB), in addition to new information about the upcoming Ryanair base in Berlin, traffic expectation data for Gran Canaria was also revealed. According to ElPeriódicoDeCanarias José Miguel Bravo de Laguna, president of the local government, announced that the number of airline seats for the island will increase around 3% from the main airports in Germany during the summer season. In total, the number of seats between April and September will reach around 420,000, which means around 12,000 more seats than the same period in 2014. Gran Canaria will have two new routes from Saarbrücken and…

Ryanair opens a base in Berlin and starts 6 Spanish destinations Standard

Ryanair's EI-EBW in Tenerife North, to operate FR5279 TFN-MAD by Dura-Ace, Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday, Ryanair announced they will have a new base in Berlin starting on October 27. From there, they will connect with six Spanish cities: Alicante, Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga, Palma and Valencia. The new base in Germany was presented during the International Tourism Fair ITB. Apart from these cities, Ryanair will also fly to Athens, Bari, Bologna, Bratislava, Brussels, Glasgow, Palermo, Riga, Rome and Venice from this new base. According the information published in Preferente, the airline announced they will operate 191 weekly flights. These services will mean an investment of 500 million dollars with the use of 5 aircrafts. The airline’s target would be to…

Swissport strike called off after deal on collective agreement Standard

An easyJet aircraft being serviced by Swissport / by Jon Whitton - Flickr

Last Friday, CCOO (Union Confederation of Workers Committee) called off the Swissport strike which had been scheduled for several days during the months of March and April. Expansion.com confirmed that the employees and the company reached a deal on the collective agreement. Until now, the conversations had been in a deadlock. Over 2,000 workers had been called to strike at the airports of Barcelona, Alicante, Almería, Málaga, Jerez, Fuerteventura and the cargo terminal of Madrid. Talks on the collective agreement began more than 2 years ago and now a deal to be signed has finally been made. This is the first collective agreement that…

San Javier awarded as the best small airport in Europe Standard

Murcia-San Javier airport by Joaquin Vanschoren - Flickr

The Airports Council International awarded San Javier airport a prize as the best European airport with fewer than 2 million passengers per year. The information was published in LaVerdad, where they interviewed the Murcia-San Javier airport director, Mr. Pedro Vicente Gallut. This distinction has been received just as Aena, the Government of Spain and the local Government are in talks for the closure of San Javier to open Corvera. It is surprising that San Javier continues to lose passengers and airlines despite the excellence of their services. Also, it is difficult to understand why Alicante keeps gaining travelers in the same area in…

Swissport strike called in the Spanish airports Standard

Swissport staff performing ramp handling to a Ryanair plane in Madrid airport / Flickr-ÁlvaroBa

According to the information published in several Spanish sources, CCOO (Union Confederation of Workers Committee) has called a strike for the Swissport Spain workers in March and April. CCOO, the main union of the ground handling company, informed that this strike has been called due to the fact that the negotiations on the collective agreement are in a deadlock. Over 2,000 employees are called to strike at the airports of Barcelona, Alicante, Almería, Málaga, Jerez, Fuerteventura and Madrid (in the case of the latter, only for the cargo terminal). A piece published by TeInteresa informs that the items currently blocking the negotiations…

Menorca seats up 12% in summer 2015 Standard

Ciutadella de Menorca by Pablo Fernández

Another step forward has been taken in the slot coordination process for the Summer 2015 season. During the month of January the airlines were requested to cancel all the slots that they had booked but did not intend to operate in summer 2015 in the Spanish airports. IATA establishes January 15 for such purpose and the European regulation takes January 31 into consideration for the calculation of the corresponding historical rights for the schedules at the airports. Thus, as soon as these deadlines had passed, Aecfa started to deal with the slot requests that they had received for the ad-hoc flights. In terms of slot…

The unions call off the Aena strike Standard

Aena’s logo at Madrid Airport / David

The strike called by the Aena unions, scheduled to start Wednesday February 11th, has been called off. Yesterday evening La Vanguardia informed that the CCOO (Union Confederation of Workers Committee) reached an agreement with the airport manager (Aena) on employment guarantees and the collective bargaining agreement. Nevertheless, they will maintain the protest at the door of the stock exchange of Madrid against the Aena privatization until next Wednesday, coinciding with the debut of the company. The committees of different airports have also called for protests in their centers against the introduction of private capital into the company. The 30th of…

Aena Unions call 27 days of strike before its partial privatisation Standard

Madrid airport Terminal 4

After a meeting held yesterday morning with the representatives from the airport manager, the Spanish Unions CCOO and USO have decided to go ahead with the strike that had been called for 27 days of stops in Aena.  Thus, ElEconomista informed that the first stop will take place on Wednesday, February 11 which coincides with the planned date for the Aena’s IPO. This first stop has been scheduled to be carried out between 10:00 and 13:00 local time. CCOO and USO claim that Aena is not complying with the collective agreement. For instance, they are not complying with the minimum staff of 8,000…

Air Horizont to start operating in April Standard

A British Airways 737-400 operating in Alicante

Just as we have been announcing since the 7th of November, Air Horizont will connect Zaragoza with direct flights to Alicante, Seville, Rome and Munich, though the goal is to continue increasing the number of destinations. According to El Economista, the flights will begin in the month of April with ticket sales starting at 39 Euros. Despite having competitive prices, Air Horizont is not a low cost airline because it provides better services for its clients. For example, in-flight refreshments and a checked bag are included in the ticket cost, as well as other services. Moreover, they will fly to…

Aena presents a plan to maximize the potential of San Javier after Corvera is blocked Standard

Jetair at Murcia-San Javier airport / Joaquin Vanschoren

The ‘Marketing Plan for the Murcia-San Javier Airport’ was the document presented last Wednesday by the Aena directors to <<maximize the connectivity>> of the installations. The document doesn’t mention the agreement to close down commercial activity to give way to the Corvera airfield. According to the document accessed by La Verdad, the members of the Airport Committee studied the strategies to re-launch the airport. The meeting of the Airport Committee, which takes place once or twice a year, took place at the San Javier Airport. Meanwhile, the Corvera Airport, whose management in the end will be up for tender, is…