Airlines have practically recovered their capacity before the coronavirus pandemic and, in some cases, even more, looking forward to a tourist summer that is expected to be a record in Spain, in any case The first without restrictions, after essentially saying goodbye to the use of masks on aircraft last February.
Companies have 219 million seats booked in the country for these months, which is 3% more than in 2019, although it is true that some challenges still remain, such as geopolitical insecurities, inflation, fuel prices Increases in traffic, staff shortages, delayed aircraft deliveries or strikes, among others, can affect busy seasons.
Companies like Ryanair, Major, or Iberia, this summer are above capacity four years ago and others are planning to match it (Vueling or easyJet) or already run at levels very close to pre-covid and even in some cases have surpassed them. their markets.
Notably, Ryanair’s scheduled capacity is 14% higher than in 2019 and 10% higher than the previous year, which was already a record year for the Irish low-cost carrier, which carries the most passengers in the country. transports to
The airline now has more than 60 new scheduled routes and increased frequencies by more than 150 compared to last summer. In Spain, it has 725 routes, 14 more than last summer, and has 92 aircraft in its base Spanish.
With regard to Iberia’s programming, its long-distance markets stand out in particular: Latin America and the United States.
In the first, where it will operate around 280 weekly flights to 18 destinations in 16 countries, it recovers all of its pre-pandemic offer and grows by 23.4% over last year and 2% over 2019 in the summer months and more than 5% in the summer months. Whole 2023.
Regarding another, it has 15% more flights than in 2022, up to 124 weekly between Spain and eight destinations in the Americas.
In addition, its low-cost subsidiary, Iberia Express, offers 27 routes and increased its capacity by 10% compared to a year ago, with a special weighting of the national offer (including Madrid and the Canary Islands). 10% more seats than in the intervening 12 months) and an increase in the frequency of flights operated to the Balearic Islands by 5% compared to 2022 and 47% compared to 2019).
Vueling, which, like Iberia, is part of the IAG group, forecasts similar levels of operations for these months as four years ago, with a total of 278 routes to a hundred destinations in more than 30 countries, compared to 2019 53 new and 22, in respect of 2022, and an average of 700 daily flights across its entire network.
Similarly, British low-cost EasyJet hopes to bring its capacity back to pre-pandemic levels by the summer, while Air France has proposed it in the Spanish market, where it will offer 11 routes from nine airports, and Nevertheless, even with KLM at the group level, its offering is still 5% lower than in 2019.
The Dutch company, for its part, increases its capacity in Spain by 2% compared to the year before, where it expands to eight locations (Alicante, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Ibiza, Madrid, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia to Amsterdam will operate).
Cancelled
Transavia, which has announced a 16% increase in its capacity for this summer compared to precedent from the Netherlands, France and Belgium to Spain, is expected to reduce scheduled flights on its global network by about 5% this month. have been forced to An additional 2% could be added in July and August due to aircraft shortages due to various delivery and repair delays.
The low cost of Air France-KLM group has already led to the cancellation of more than 350 flights from the Netherlands, mainly to Spain, Portugal and Italy.
