Free flights to Spain with Ryanair

Ryanair is offering 250,000 free flights. The conditions under which these flights are on offer are the following:

• Reservations can be made until 01/02/07 for flights during the whole of February (this is a great opportunity to go somewhere different on St Valentine’s Day)!
• Flights cost a nominal fee of 0.01€
• Tax and costs per journey will not exceed 17.51 €
• This offer is subject to availablity and covers flights from Monday to Sunday.
  

The offer includes some very attractive options....

• To Madrid from París, Roma and Oslo plus other destinations...
• To Barcelona (Girona or Reus) from Brussels, London and Paris plus other destinations...

Ryanair also flies to the following Spanish destinations, all of which are included in this special offer: Almeria, Fuerteventura, Granada, Jerez, Malaga, Murcia, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Sevilla, Tenerife Norte, Valencia, Valladolid, Vitoria/Gasteiz and Zaragoza.

New airports in Spanish cities

El Mundo has published a report on Spain's newest airports. According to the report many Spanish cities are looking for their own place in Spanish airspace given that almost all of flights in Spain are concentrated in Barcelona, Madrid and other main tourist destinations such as the Mediterranean, the Canary islands, Mallorca…

With Barajas (Madrid airport) transporting over 45 million passenger and El Prat (Barcelona airport) 30 million Spain’s smaller airports in provincial cities throughout the country come far behind that figure. This has led to an initiative in which smaller Spanish cities are now looking at the possibilities of opening or expanding their own airports.

Ciudad Real, will be the first city to build its own airport under a privately financed scheme. According to Juan Antonio León Triviño, President of Ciudad Real’s Chamber of Commerce, a new airport for the city will have a knock on affect for the whole city. He believes that it will lead to more employment, a larger population and new housing for the city.

Don Quijote Airport airport will come into operation this year with the objective of transporting up to 10 million passengers in the future. It is hoped that it will make the city one of Spain’s most important communication points. Don Quijote airport will be located 200 metres from the main railway station (the AVE connecting Sevilla and Madrid stops there) as well as important motorways running close to the city.

Given that 8 out of 10 tourist fly to Spain it is hoped that opening or expanding existing airports in smaller cities over the next few years will help maintain the number of tourists visiting the country. The government is planning to invest 241,392 million euros in improving transport in Spain under the Strategic Transport Project 2005 –2020 of which 6.5% will be invested in air travel.

Low cost air travel, which grew significantly in 2006, is also changing air travel in Spain. Although low cost airline companies tend to operate mainly from Spain’s most important airports and main tourist destinations it is hoped that Spain’s smaller airports could start to attract low cost airlines in the future.

Ryanair flights to Alicante

Alicante airport (El Altet) has confirmed that passenger numbers only grew by 1% in 2006. It also said the Irish low cost airline, Ryanair had been negotiating operating some routes from the airport, something which would create direct competition with its main rival Easyjet who already operate from the airport.

According to sources from Ryanair negotiations are at an advanced stage and flights could begin soon. The Irish company already operate some flights to Valencia and Murcia. However, nothing has been officially confirmed yet.

Negotiations with Ryanair are taking place at a time when El Altet is undergoing expansion. A new terminal is being built in order to avoid the congestion suffered in previous years. They should also act as an incentive for other airlines who operate from the airport, especially Easyjet, which at present is the largest operator at El Altet.

Ryanair, which has been operating from Spanish airports since 2003, carries more passengers than Lufthansa, British Airways, KLM, Air France or Iberia. It currently operates from 17 airports in Spain with a total of 117 routes to Europe. Last year El Altet, only grew by 1% and didn’t reach its target of 9 million passengers. Significantly passenger numbers from the UK went down by 0.3% while passengers from Spain rose by 11.1%.

With regards to the ranking of companies operating from Alicante, Easyjet is the first company with 9,936 flights (-1,3%), followed by Iberia with 8,759 flights (-2,5%), Spanair with 5,557 (+74,4%), Thomsonfly with 4,724 (+90,2%), and Air Berlín with 4,592 vuelos (+12,2%).

More low cost airlines flying to Madrid

According to information gathered in December by the Tourism Studies Institute, Barajas is now the third most important airport for international passengers using low cost flights in Spain (Barcelona and Malaga are still ahead of Madrid).

Barajas received 143,850 passengers travelling low cost, an increase of 96.7%. This increase was registered when Ryanair, the Irish low cost company, started operating flights to Madrid last November. According to AENA Ryanair carried 35,807 passengers in December (arrivals and departures). Given that Easyjet carried over a million passengers to and from Barajas last year it is expected that the number of passengers travelling low cost will increase in February when Easyjet open their new base in Madrid.

Overall Palma de Mallorca had the most low cost flights last year, mainly with Air Berlin, followed by Málaga. The third place was taken by Barcelona although Alicante saw an increase of 21.7% in passengers travelling low cost while Tenerife Sur saw a rise of 48%.

Low cost airlines have continued to win a larger share of the market in Spain, carrying a total of 17.4 million passengers (31.6% of all arrivals) in 2006. However their rate of growth has slowed down. Passengers travelling low cost rose by 30.8% in 2005 in contrast with a rise of just 14.7% in 2006.

See: Guide to Madrid

Air Madrid to be taken over by Spanish travel company

Air Comet agrees to take on 578 Air Madrid employees

The Spanish Transport Ministry has confirmed that an agreement has been reached with Air Comet, the airline belonging to the Marsans group, in order to try and ease the problems caused by the collapse of Air Madrid. This announcement comes days after the German company LTU also committed itself to taking on former Air Madrid employees as well as operating on some routes.

Air Comet, will take on a total of 578 employees, 53% of Air Madrid’s former employees who will be selected according to their experience and qualifications. In addition, Air Comet will being operating on 7 routes to Latin America formerly operated by Air Madrid. The airline will operate routes to Argentina, Chile, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia, Panamá and Costa Rica. However, there will be no flights to Brazil or Mexico.

According to Transport Ministry sources Air Comet was one of the few companies that offered to take on former Air Madrid employees. The President of the Marsans group, Gonzalo Pascual, said that 2007 would be a significant year for Air Comet which will expand its routes to fly long haul.

Related: LTU and Air Madrid

Compensation on charter flights

The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has called on the European Commission to correct inaccurate and misleading information contained in leaflets, posters and a video presentation on the rights of air passengers regarding compensation for cancelled or delayed flights.

This follows a complaint to the Ombudsman from two airline associations which criticised the information provided by the Commission on the rights of travellers to compensation and assistance in the event of denied boarding, cancellation of flights or long delays. During his enquiry, the Ombudsman identified certain inaccurate and misleading statements in EU leaflets and other material.

In February 2005, new EU rules entered into force in the area of compensation and assistance to air passengers in the event of denied boarding, cancellation of flights or long delays, and the Commission published material designed to inform travellers about their rights.

One of the statements in the leaflets and posters reads: "If you are denied boarding or your flight is cancelled, the airline operating your flight must offer you financial compensation and assistance". The Ombudsman considers that this sentence wrongly suggests that compensation has to be paid in every case where a flight is cancelled.

The Ombudsman also agrees with the complainants that a statement in the video that "Immediate and automatic compensation will be paid for delays, cancellations and overbooking" is inaccurate as compensation never has to be paid in respect of delay, and where compensation is payable for cancellation and overbooking, it does not have to be paid immediately.

Related:
New EU legislation regarding passenger rights to compensation on charter flights

LTU and Air Madrid

German airline will fly Air Madrid routes.

The German company LTU has promised to operate on most of the transatlantic routes formerly run by Air Madrid which went out of business on 15th December 2006 hours before the Civil Aviation Authority withdrew its licence for repeated lapses in the airline safety. It has also agreed to take on 568 of Air Madrid’s employees (52% of the total staff previously employed by Air Madrid). In addition LTU has agreed to carry anyone with a ticket with Air Madrid for a supplement of 250 euros per journey until June 2007.

A deal with LTU has almost been closed with the approval of the aviation authorities in all the South American countries that Air Madrid operated from according to sources from the Ministry of Transport.

The agreement does not involve the owner of Air Madrid, José Luis Carrillo, as the company is not being sold and LTU will not be taking on any of Air Madrid’s debts.

The German company has already requested permission for the flight slots necessary from AENA – the public company that controls the air space in Spain. Routes will start operating at the end of the month. LTU will continue operating as a German company (as it already does in Spain) with a Central European licence. All planes will fly under the licence of the German company so there should not be any similar problems which led to Air Madrid’s licence being suspended.

LTU has agreed to take on 568 of Air Madrid’s employees out of a total of 1089 worldwide. The Ministry of Transport commented that non of Air Madrid’s former employees in South America will lose their jobs, a fact that helped gain the support of the authorities in those countries.

LTU will run routes between Spain and Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Peru. There will be no flights to Brasil or Colombia due to opposition by Spanish companies over a foreign company operating on those routes.

Later LTU will create a Spanish company LTU España and a licence will be requested under the new company – something which is expected to take between 4 and 6 months.