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Madrid runway closure postponed by Courts Standard

Runway 36L at Terminal 4, Madrid Barajas airport by Mario Rubio García - Flickr

On December 9, ElMundo informed that the High Court of Madrid asked Aena to cease the noise affecting the residential complex of Ciudad Santo Domingo due to the aircrafts landing at Barajas airport. In particular, Aena was requested to reduce operations by 30% the flights allocated by Aena in 2004 (about 20,730 approaches). This reduction was supposed to be effective no later than two months after the order’s notification. The 18R runway of Madrid airport was the one affected by this decision. This has nothing to do with the fact that the runway will be closed for construction for almost a month. However, last Wednesday ElEconomista published a piece informing…

Victoria International Airways: a start-up for Palma Standard

Screenshot of the Victoria International Airways web site

“Victoria International Airways is a new airline based in Spain that offers Full Charter Service to tour operators and travel agencies…”. This is the presentation of the airline in their LinkedIn page, which also informs that their fleet is composed of Airbus 320s with a 180 seat cabin configuration. This morning, Preferente.com published an article about this company. According to the information in it, they will not be able to start for the moment due to lack of an aircraft. The airline is being created by several entrepreneurs from Málaga and Mallorca. The project was born more than a year ago and has people…

La Seu d’Urgell: yet another commercial airport in Spain Standard

Air Andorra's web site screenshot

LaVanguardia informed that La Seu d’Urgell airport is no longer an airfield, as of yesterday it has become a commercial airport and hence tourist, passenger, cargo or private flights may operate there from now on. This is happening five years after Alguaire started operations on January 17, 2010 also in the province of Lleida. Both airports are owned by the Government of Catalonia. Albert Batalla – mayor of Seu d’Urgell – said that both airports are compatible with each other because they are different: Alguaire is for big aircrafts and La Seu d’Urgell airport is for smaller planes, with up to forty or fifty…

Aena 2015 charges Standard

Aena logos at Barcelona airport / Lali Masriera

Last Tuesday 30th December, the Official Gazette BOE published the General State Budget that includes the Aena 2015 charges. It is confirmed that with effect 1st March 2015 and with “indefinite validity”, the prices will remain unchanged. In July, Aena confirmed that the airport charges would be frozen until 2025. It is worth noting the following modifications to the Air Security Law that will be effective on 1st March 2015: On the one hand, the discount in passenger and security charges for transfer travelers increases from 30% to 35%. On the other hand, the private flights operated by aircrafts which MTOW…

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…