Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling is to expand its services to Tenerife with the resumption of flights to the Island’s South Airport during summer 2014. The three times weekly link from Barcelona will commence in April 2014 and will introduce a further 34,200 seats into the market. The budget venture already operates twice daily flights to Tenerife North, the main domestic gateway to the Canary Island.
Vueling launched operations in Tenerife in March 2008 and currently connects Tenerife North with a total of six destinations: Barcelona, A Coruña (Galicia), Oviedo (Asturias), Bilbao in Northern Spain and Malaga and Seville in the South. In 2012 it had an 8.2 per cent share of domestic capacity from Tenerife North.
The new enhanced schedule service to Tenerife South will place the carrier in direct competition with Ryanair, which currently dominates domestic flights at the airport. Vueling has previously served the airport from its Barcelona base in each of the past four years although annual capacity has only ever reached 16,560 previously, and was just 7,920 this year.
In a further boost for Spanish airport operator AENA in The Canary Islands, easyJet has confirmed it will launch a new regular service to Tenerife South from its base at London Southend Airport. The twice weekly link will be introduced from December 13, 2013 and the carrier expects to handle in excess of 11,000 passengers per year on the route. The announcement comes just three months after easyJet announced its expansion at London Southend Airport by adding a fourth aircraft to the base and three new routes to Newquay, Berlin and Krakow.
“We’re absolutely delighted to be launching our 16th destination from London Southend to Tenerife. It’s perfect for winter sun and we’re sure it will be a big hit with our customers from Southend and the wider region,” said Hugh Aitken, UK commercial manager, easyJet.
The UK carrier already offers links to Tenerife from seven destinations with the strong demand specifically from the UK where it has existing flights from Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle and its largest base at London Gatwick. The new link from London Southend will likely complement the existing London operation as easyjet has previously successfully served a number of international destinations from multiple London airports, due to differing catchments and passengers demographics.
Elsewhere in Spain, easyJet will also launch flights between Seville and EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg, on the French – German – Swiss border. The new link represents the first scheduled operation between the destinations since Swiss International Air Lines ended its daily service in March 2003, a route that had been flown using a 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145.
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