News: Valencia Airport experiences 35% growth
Flights > News > # 352 (23/03/2005)
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How many passengers does your airport currently serve?
We handled 3.1 million passengers in 2004, and this was a 30% growth in flights,
compared to the previous year. We expect to grow by around 35 to 40% this year,
and handle at least 4 million passengers.
What do you think is the most important factor influencing this growth?
The city of Valencia decided around 10 years ago that it wanted to improve
the number of tourists who were coming in to visit. We have the third largest
city in Spain, but we are ranked low in the top 10 for visitor numbers. I'm
sure you will have seen many of the new projects in the city centre, including
the City of Arts and Sciences. Valencia will also be hosting the America's
Cup in 2007.
Valencia is an important city for European cruises, and as the port has really
been cleaned up in recent years, we are hoping to see people come in and spend
a few days in the city before boarding their ship.
How about people coming to
the Valencia region on holiday?
Yes, this is very important too, as we can offer easy access to the Costa
Brava. The second home market in Spain is also continuing to grow, and no-frills
flights to cities such as Valencia make this possible.
How about internal flights within Spain?
We are the base for Air Nostrum, who are the regional division of Iberia.
Around 60% of our passengers are taking flights within Spain, with the largest
number using shuttle flights to Madrid.
We also are a major engineering centre for Iberia, and you will no doubt have
seen the Airbus planes across on the other side of the runway, which are here
for maintenance.
Vueling airlines also offer cheap flights from Valencia to Paris, Brussels,
and Milan. Within Spain, they offer flights to Bilbao, Palma, Ibiza and Seville,
but they do not yet offer any cheap flights to Valencia from the UK.
What sort of growth have you experienced in the flights from the UK to Valencia?
We have seen significant growth here. British Airways and Iberia have offered
flights from London to Valencia for many years, but since Thomsonfly started
their flights from Coventry in April last year, we have also seen easyJet and
Ryanair come in. This weekend, Jet2 launched cheap flights from Manchester
to Valencia, and EU Jet will start flights from Manston in May.
This has been a significant part of the growth in flights at Valencia airport,
although the German no-frills airline HLX has been coming here for a little
bit longer.
What are the ratios between passengers on flights into Valencia coming in
to Spain, compared to those who are visiting the UK?
At the moment, we are seeing that around 85% of passengers on these flights
are people from the UK who are visiting the Valencia region, or who have property
in Spain. Only around 15% of passengers on these flights are Spanish nationals,
although we do not think that the locals have woken up yet she opportunities
they have two take cheap flights from Valencia. As we are the third city in
Spain, I see no reason why we cannot have many more passengers taking flights
to other European destinations from Valencia. I think when people get more
used to online booking, and when the airlines start doing more local promotional
campaigns, we might see something more like a 50-50 balance on these flights.
Do you think any of the UK-based airlines will use Valencia as a base? EasyJet
had been rumoured to be wanting to establish a new base in Spain.
We are talking to airlines all of the time, let's wait and see.
Do you think other UK airlines might come in and offer cheap flights to Valencia?
How about airlines such as Flybe, Globespan or Bmibaby?
As you know, we are talking to airlines all-time, but we cannot comment about
new routes before they are announced.
How about Ryanair, aren't you quite a major airport by their standards? Do
they get any special deals?
As is the case with all Ryanair airports, they do not wish to use the airbridges,
so we do not charge them for this. They also insist on not using buses either,
so you will see when the Ryanair flight comes in, it parks on the right-hand
side of the terminal, and passengers then walk in to the arrivals hall. Ryanair
currently have flights to Valencia from London Stansted, and from Milan Bergamo
and Rome Ciampino.
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