Norwegian will make its debut at Birmingham at the end of March 2015 with a three times weekly service from Malaga commencing on March 30, 2015 and a three times weekly route to Madrid following from March 31, 2015. The third route to Barcelona will follow from June 1, 2015 and will be flown on a twice weekly basis.
Our analysis of schedule data shows that the carrier has boosted its capacity from Spain’s second city over the past ten years from 112,650 departure seats in 2004 to 8.8 million in 2014. This has seen its share of departure capacity grow from just 0.6 per cent in 2004, when Iberia dominated operations, to a market leading 37.9 per cent in 2014.
The frequency growth will see Qatar Airways boost capacity to Barcelona by 32.1 per cent in 2015, while total capacity into Spain will increase 30.4 per cent to almost 360,000 seats in each direction. According to MIDT data, the airline carried an estimated 458,000 passengers on its flights to and from Spain last year.
The airline has been offering a service on the Bogota – Barcelona route since June 2006. An estimated 76,000 passengers flew on the route in the first nine months of this year, up 10.1 per cent on the same period last year, with Avianca reporting average loads of more than 85 per cent.
Barcelona is one of the most popular destinations in Spain, with a history among the oldest in Europe, and a sensational amount of culture. At the same time, it has a reputation for being a modern and cosmopolitan city, with a huge amount of shopping and nightlife.
The low-cost Spanish airline has announced 31 new routes for its summer schedule, mainly departing from Barcelona and Rome. The airline has also announced its first destination to Northern Ireland, to operate twice weekly.
