A new airport has been announced for the province of Huelva, in southwest Spain giving a boost to property owners on the western Costa de la Luz, currently accessed by air via Faro in Portugal or Seville, an hour away.
A study by Savills last year found that properties around airports served by low-cost airlines command a 37 percent premium and that properties near airports were able to produce higher rents.
The airport is scheduled for completion in 2012.
easyJet buys GB Airways Date: 02-03-2008
easyJet has completed the takeover of GB Airways, clearing the way for the budget airline to operate its first flights from Manchester Airport, as well as increasing its services from London Gatwick.
Welcoming the confirmation of the takeover, easyJet chief executive Andy Harrison said: “The deal enhances easyJet’s customer offering of low cost with care and convenience and will create value for shareholders.”
As well as giving easyJet a presence at Manchester Airport for the first time, the deal will bring a total of 14 new destinations within the budget airline’s network, including Malta, Corfu and Tenerife.
New low cost Gatwick-Bilbao Date: 02-03-2008
Spanish low cost airline Clickair start daily flights from Gatwick to Bilbao in Northern Spain from March.
The new flights will start on 30 March when Clickair takes over the Gatwick to Bilbao route from one of its founders, the Spanish airline Iberia. Outbound fares are expected to start from £32, and inbound fares from £16.
Clickair already offers daily flights from Gatwick to Seville, as well as daily flights from Heathrow to Valencia, and flights three times a week from Edinburgh to Barcelona.
The UK’s leading flight price comparison website, Cheapflights.co.uk has hit out at claims that budget airlines are destroying traditional tourism in the UK.
Cheapflights.co.uk has defended the cut price airline industry against accusations made in a Select Committee inquiry into tourism.
“Without budget airlines, thousands of families in the UK would be unable to travel abroad” says Francesca Ecsery, general manager at Cheapflights.co.uk.
“Outrageous price hikes, particularly on train fares, and the government’s fuel taxes do not help traditional tourism in the UK” she added.
Train fares went up by an average of 6 percent on some routes and a whopping 14% on others this year. By comparison budget airline flights to Málaga are on offer for just £41 return, which is an absolute bargain.
“When the average holiday maker is faced with this kind of choice, who can blame them for letting the plane take the strain,” says Ms. Ecsery. The inquiry also claimed unfair tax breaks for short-haul airlines are damaging regional tourism to UK seaside resorts and suggests that a ten per cent reduction in overseas flights by British tourists by 2020 would create 31,250 jobs, injecting £1 billion into struggling tourism locations outside of London.
Ryanair announces Costa Daurada base Date: 02-03-2008
Low fares airline Ryanair, today has announced its 26th European and fifth Spanish base in Reus on the Costa Daurada. From October, Ryanair will invest $140M in 2 new aircraft and 12 routes that will deliver 1,000 jobs and over 1m passengers over the year for the city of Tarragona. Flight begin in June from Birmingham added to existing Ryanair flights from Dublin. Glasgow, Liverpool Luton and Stansted. Over the past five years, Ryanair has successfully competed with Spanish airline Iberia guaranteeing Spanish passengers low fares and no fuel surcharges. This has driven down the cost of travel and delivered an annual €2bn tourism spend in the Spanish regions. Announcing Ryanair’s 26th European base in Reus, CEO Michael O’Leary said: “The 1m passengers that Ryanair delivers to/from Reus next year will generate a local visitor spend of at least €150m.”
Madrid to Málaga at high-speed Date: 02-03-2008
Late December 2007, saw the first high speed train (AVE) connecting Málaga and Madrid.
The train covers the distance between these two cities in two hours and a half.
There are 11 services a day in both ways, with extra services on Fridays. Tickets are sold at train stations and travel agencies but on the web (www.renfe.es). discounts of up to 60 pct are available, tickets working out at less than 30 euros.
In its first month of operation the train carried 100,000 passengers.
Ferry operator in shark hunt Date: 03-09-2007
Operating the Portsmouth to Bilbao route, P&O Ferries found itself in the thick of fins as Great White shark fever gripped the nation this summer. ?Members of the public and the media bombarded the firm with calls, fishing for information of Great White sightings from the company’s ships, since the sharks were reported in UK waters.?The Times helpfully printed a shark identification chart. Not to be outdone, The Sun splashed ‘Der-dum Der-dum’ over its front page, evoking the Jaws movie music.?“As a result our phones haven’t stopped,” said Brian Rees, shark spokesman for P&O Ferries. “With our routes to France and Spain people realise we are possibly in a unique position to say whether Great Whites have arrived.”?Rising to the bait, P&O Ferries offers the following shark identification tip. “It’s easy,” says Rees. “Great Whites are confused with Basking sharks as both have white bellies. Just peek at the teeth - a Great White has rows of razor-sharp gnashers for ripping prey apart. A Basking shark doesn’t.”
Airport go ahead for Costa del Azahar Date: 03-09-2007
A judge in Castellón has allowed work on the future Costa de Azahar Airport to go ahead. It had been delayed after an ecological group had presented a court case against the airport that is taking shape on the Santa Barbara Mountain in Villanova d’Alcolea. In his findings, the judge stated that the works could now go ahead as it would be all but impossible to repair the environmental damage already been caused.
Ferries benefit from airport backlash Date: 03-09-2007
More than 15m Britons took a ferry journey in the first half of 2007, with the strongest increase coming in sail-and-drive breaks to the continent.
The total number of journeys from Jan-June was 15.7m, 0.8% ahead of the total for the first half for 2006. The ferry industry is represented by the Passenger Shipping Association. Its director Bill Gibbons said: ‘Customer perceptions are changing and ferries are increasingly being seen as more convenient, family-friendly and a less stressful way to travel.’
Ryanair backs Valencian community Date: 03-09-2007
In what was seen as a clear tribute to the dynamism of the Valencian Community, and a considerable vote of confidence in the future, budget airline Ryanair announced in August that it was intending to set up two bases in the Community - one in Valencia, the other in Alicante. The company will be spending some three hundred million euros to create the two bases, and introduce twenty new flights to the major cities of Europe. These new flights would serve about one and a half million passengers in each airport every year, and would result in the creation of some 1,500 jobs, whilst adding 200 million euros annually to the economy of the Valencian Community. In the first stages, these new flights would be international, and later internal flights would be added to the schedule. ?In the case of Valencia, flights start from October, whilst from Alicante services begin in November and December. The move is expected to greatly intensify the competition between low-cost carriers in Europe for the Spanish market with rival easyJet having opened its first base in Spain earlier this year.
The announcement came less than two weeks after it was revealed that Valencia had been chosen as the stage for the next edition of the Americas Cup.
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