SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, March 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The airlines have scheduled 31,425,942 seats in the airports of the Canary Islands for the summer season, which starts next Sunday, March 26, and will last until October 28, 2023, data that represents an increase of 8.4%. compared to the same 2019 season, before the pandemic. Of this total, 16,757,988 seats correspond to international flights (+9%) and 14,667,954 to national flights (+8%).
According to Aena data, regarding the number of commercial operations for the summer season, these increase by 7% compared to 2019, adding a total of 228,144 movements, between expected arrivals and departures. The number of routes that the airlines have projected in the archipelago is 609, maintaining the same number as the 2019 summer season.
By number of scheduled seats, Gran Canaria Airport is in the lead, with more than 8.8 million seats, 6% more than in 2019. Of these, more than 4.7 million have other origins/destinations points of Spain; almost 3.9 million, Europe, and almost 223,000 the African continent. In total, 44 airlines have scheduled 177 routes at the Gran Canaria airport. In the 66,228 planned movements, it will connect with 112 different destinations. By markets, after Spanish, the largest number of places offered is with the United Kingdom and Germany.
For its part, Tenerife South Airport has scheduled 155 routes operated by 45 airlines that will offer more than 7.2 million seats (12% more than in 2019). Of these, more than 6.4 million will be for European flights, 792,440 for the national territory, 41,564 for Africa and 16,350 for North America. The airlines have scheduled more than 39,610 movements (+14.3%) to 92 destinations. By markets, the number of places offered with the United Kingdom stands out, mainly London and Manchester, followed by Spain and Germany.
It is followed by the César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport, with more than 5.6 million scheduled seats (+17%). Of these, more than 3.4 million are for international flights and more than 2.1 million for domestic ones. In this case, 31 airlines have scheduled 118 routes, with more than 39,000 movements to 68 destinations. By markets, the number of places with the rest of Spain, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and France stands out.
As for the Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de La Laguna Airport, 8 airlines have scheduled 41 routes, with 40,228 operations to 25 destinations. Of the more than 4.4 million seats offered (+2%), most of them are concentrated in national destinations, with 4,412,928 seats, followed by 33,096 with destination/origin in Europe, almost 18,000 with Latin America and close to 2,000 with Africa. By markets, the national one stands out with connections to Madrid, Gran Canaria and La Palma, followed by Portugal.
More than 3.9 million seats have been offered from the Fuerteventura Airport, with an increase of 8% over the 2019 summer season, by 29 airlines that have scheduled 101 routes. More than 2.6 million seats are for international flights and more than 1.3 for national ones. This season, 27,680 movements have been scheduled to 66 different destinations. By markets, Spanish stands out, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom.
For its part, La Palma Airport will have 14 routes. The 7 airlines operating this season will offer more than 1 million seats (-8%), with 941,994 on domestic flights and 58,148 on international ones. In total, they have projected 12,190 movements to 12 different destinations. The connections offered between the Islands and with Madrid stand out.
Finally, the airlines offer 228,540 seats at El Hierro Airport with 3,172 planned movements, and 126,144 seats and 1,752 movements at La Gomera, all of them to inter-island destinations.
FLEXIBLE PROGRAMMING AND SUBJECT TO CHANGES
The schedule of seats and movements offered by the airlines for the 2023 summer season is prepared months in advance and is subject to changes by the airlines.
It must be taken into account that said programming responds to requests made by companies to operate at airports and the number of seats they offer passengers on these flights. Therefore, it is about the offer of seats and flights, not real traffic data, since these are not obtained until the flights are operated and their occupancy is known.
During the two years of the pandemic, Aena provided the airlines with incentives specifically designed for the situation caused by COVID19. Now, given the recovery in traffic, the company is recovering a commercial incentive similar to the one it offered to airlines before the pandemic. The incentive will be applied from April 1 to October 31 (summer) and from November 1 to March 31, 2024 (winter).
This scheme encourages new routes to unserved destinations, growth in routes at airports with fewer than 3 million passengers, and growth in routes to Asia.
The incentive consists of the reimbursement of 100% of the passenger’s airport tariff corresponding to the number of passengers of each company that opens routes to destinations not served by the airport or that grow (with respect to the previous equivalent season), on the routes that operate in airports with fewer than 3 million passengers or with destinations in Asia. The maximum number of passengers to be encouraged by each company has a limit set by the number of passengers that the airline grows at the airport and in the total network.
