Seville San Pablo (LEZL)
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Trumpville; On the edge
Posts: 435
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Seville San Pablo (SVQ/LEZL)
Having lived and worked in Seville for the past 4 years, I can't help but think that the airport is massively under-utilised. At certain times of the day, there appears to be NO traffic at all for several hours, (typically between 13:30 or so for at least 2-3 hours, (yes, I'm aware that it is traditionally siesta time...)) Is this just due to the current economic climate here, or are there other factors at play?
Apart from Ryanair, Vueling and Iberia, (both IB and IBE) there appears to be very little other regular daily traffic (admittedly, Easyjet, Air Berlin and a few others have fairly regular weekly flights, but it appears that there is an awful lot of newly-laid/renovated concrete going to waste.)
Also, regarding routes, not surprisingly perhaps, both Vueling and Iberia serve mainly domestic destinations, although the service to Madrid is a nightmare, both in terms of scheduling and trying to connect without having to wait in MAD for 2-3 hours!
As for RYR, whilst once they served at least 4 UK destinations, (STN, LGW, BRS and LPL) now it is just the first 2. The only other direct flight to the UK is with EZY to LGW, 3-4 times weekly.
Bearing in mind a fairly sizeable expat community here (bolstered by the Airbus facility,) there seems to be an opportunity for a LoCo/mainline carrier to capitalise on this and introduce some new routes direct to UK. Reintroducing a direct flight to either BRS and/or LPL (ideally both!) would certainly be very welcome - after all, arriving at STN at 23:55 is not everyone's cup of tea...
Should I hold my breath or not?
Apart from Ryanair, Vueling and Iberia, (both IB and IBE) there appears to be very little other regular daily traffic (admittedly, Easyjet, Air Berlin and a few others have fairly regular weekly flights, but it appears that there is an awful lot of newly-laid/renovated concrete going to waste.)
Also, regarding routes, not surprisingly perhaps, both Vueling and Iberia serve mainly domestic destinations, although the service to Madrid is a nightmare, both in terms of scheduling and trying to connect without having to wait in MAD for 2-3 hours!
As for RYR, whilst once they served at least 4 UK destinations, (STN, LGW, BRS and LPL) now it is just the first 2. The only other direct flight to the UK is with EZY to LGW, 3-4 times weekly.
Bearing in mind a fairly sizeable expat community here (bolstered by the Airbus facility,) there seems to be an opportunity for a LoCo/mainline carrier to capitalise on this and introduce some new routes direct to UK. Reintroducing a direct flight to either BRS and/or LPL (ideally both!) would certainly be very welcome - after all, arriving at STN at 23:55 is not everyone's cup of tea...
Should I hold my breath or not?
Last edited by Trumpet_trousers; 25th Apr 2013 at 10:24.
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Israel, Kazakhstan, Spain
Posts: 306
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
You would think with the large EADS presence in SVQ it would be better utilised, but it's not; even RYR keep chopping and changing there routes. I live not far (on the border between Cadiz and Seville, and utilise XRY, SVQ, AGP and GIB as necessary to connect with long haul; none of them have the ideal schedule, even AGP.
It's not that many years ago there were direct flights to LHR from SVQ (IB->VY and AGP (IB & BA) - all have sadly gone; and I don't see it changing any time soon.
It's not that many years ago there were direct flights to LHR from SVQ (IB->VY and AGP (IB & BA) - all have sadly gone; and I don't see it changing any time soon.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: NCL
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hello Trumpet_trousers:
As a person living in Seville and working with English people, I can tell you some facts about the airport and its connections.
Seville Airport situated in the capital of Andalusia (South of Spain) serves a population of 2,2 million inhabitants within 60 min by car. Its pax record was in 2011 carrying about 4,9 million passengers while in 2012 it descent to 4,2.
Nowadays, 10 airlines operates in SVQ with an average of 90-100 flights/day. Although 60% of the traffic is domestic, there are also more than 25 destinations within Europe. France followed by Italy leads the capacity offered (7 destinations in France, 6 in Italy). In addition there is also a very strong demand to BENELUX (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg) with 21 weekly departures to this region.
I give you the reason about the lack of activity during evening (13-15 hrs) but flights concentrate at first hour in the morning (6-8 am), 11 am, and night time (7-10 pm). Aiport authorities are working to cover this period with more flights and new routes in 2013 to Lyon (Transavia) and Geneve (easyJet) have been scheduled to arrive at this time.
About the suspension of UK direct links:
In the past (until 2011), there were flights with Ryanair to Liverpool (4x>2x), Bristol (2x) and East Midlands (3x). LPL worked perfectly in LFs and surely on yields. Mainly used by Nothern-English and with very good schedule in the afternoon. Lots of friends took this route which has been availible from Feb. 2006 until Oct. 2011. Then RYR cut some routes in its LPL base and Seville was one of them. There had been some rumours about RYR trying to put an SVQ-MAN but no further information was known
BRS (from Jul. 2009 until 2011) was very mediocre in LFs. All around 70-75% with some peaks of 80-83% in Summer. Many students used this route for exchanges and campaments and also English coming to the South of Spain.
Finally EMA (2011) reached poor LFs and I believe only some peak months reached around 75%. Fares were so low, sometimes you could find tickets for €12. Lots of Spanish people using this route for their holidays in UK.
However, in 2012-13 Ryanair decided to cut lots of direct connections between Seville and Europe suspending EMA, LPL, BRS, AOI, NYO, PSA, TFS, ZAZ, BIO, IBZ, FEZ...
Currently Seville-UK market is really unserved with only flights to London. There is a demand for routes to Northern England and Scotland. As SS13, you have these options:
easyJet LGW-SVQ 4x (increased to 5x in WS13-14)
Ryanair LGW-SVQ 3x
Ryanair STN-SVQ 5x
--> 12 weekly departures between Seville and London but not to other cities in UK
The information I have is that airport direction is looking for IAG (Vueling/BA) to re-establish flights to LHR but according to LHR slots capacity and operational costs I see it is stupid instead of working with easyJet to increase LGW to daily. Also there is some talks with airlines to open Seville-Birmingham because airport marketing department has seen optiond to this route, but I think there is not any airline based in one of the two airports interested in flying this link. In my opinion, MAN/LPL and EDI/GLA must be priority.
Airbus Military has created a demand on flights between Seville and Toulouse which is operated by Air France (A319) and Iberia-Air Nostrum (CRJ200) with 9 flights per week.
I hope my information has been useful. You can follow my webpage about the airport in svqairport blog
Please, write to me in case of any suggestion to airport direction or any other comment to [email protected]
Kind regards
As a person living in Seville and working with English people, I can tell you some facts about the airport and its connections.
Seville Airport situated in the capital of Andalusia (South of Spain) serves a population of 2,2 million inhabitants within 60 min by car. Its pax record was in 2011 carrying about 4,9 million passengers while in 2012 it descent to 4,2.
Nowadays, 10 airlines operates in SVQ with an average of 90-100 flights/day. Although 60% of the traffic is domestic, there are also more than 25 destinations within Europe. France followed by Italy leads the capacity offered (7 destinations in France, 6 in Italy). In addition there is also a very strong demand to BENELUX (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg) with 21 weekly departures to this region.
I give you the reason about the lack of activity during evening (13-15 hrs) but flights concentrate at first hour in the morning (6-8 am), 11 am, and night time (7-10 pm). Aiport authorities are working to cover this period with more flights and new routes in 2013 to Lyon (Transavia) and Geneve (easyJet) have been scheduled to arrive at this time.
About the suspension of UK direct links:
In the past (until 2011), there were flights with Ryanair to Liverpool (4x>2x), Bristol (2x) and East Midlands (3x). LPL worked perfectly in LFs and surely on yields. Mainly used by Nothern-English and with very good schedule in the afternoon. Lots of friends took this route which has been availible from Feb. 2006 until Oct. 2011. Then RYR cut some routes in its LPL base and Seville was one of them. There had been some rumours about RYR trying to put an SVQ-MAN but no further information was known
BRS (from Jul. 2009 until 2011) was very mediocre in LFs. All around 70-75% with some peaks of 80-83% in Summer. Many students used this route for exchanges and campaments and also English coming to the South of Spain.
Finally EMA (2011) reached poor LFs and I believe only some peak months reached around 75%. Fares were so low, sometimes you could find tickets for €12. Lots of Spanish people using this route for their holidays in UK.
However, in 2012-13 Ryanair decided to cut lots of direct connections between Seville and Europe suspending EMA, LPL, BRS, AOI, NYO, PSA, TFS, ZAZ, BIO, IBZ, FEZ...
Currently Seville-UK market is really unserved with only flights to London. There is a demand for routes to Northern England and Scotland. As SS13, you have these options:
easyJet LGW-SVQ 4x (increased to 5x in WS13-14)
Ryanair LGW-SVQ 3x
Ryanair STN-SVQ 5x
--> 12 weekly departures between Seville and London but not to other cities in UK
The information I have is that airport direction is looking for IAG (Vueling/BA) to re-establish flights to LHR but according to LHR slots capacity and operational costs I see it is stupid instead of working with easyJet to increase LGW to daily. Also there is some talks with airlines to open Seville-Birmingham because airport marketing department has seen optiond to this route, but I think there is not any airline based in one of the two airports interested in flying this link. In my opinion, MAN/LPL and EDI/GLA must be priority.
Airbus Military has created a demand on flights between Seville and Toulouse which is operated by Air France (A319) and Iberia-Air Nostrum (CRJ200) with 9 flights per week.
I hope my information has been useful. You can follow my webpage about the airport in svqairport blog
Please, write to me in case of any suggestion to airport direction or any other comment to [email protected]Kind regards
Last edited by FR8364; 23rd Apr 2013 at 16:29.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Trumpville; On the edge
Posts: 435
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi FR8364, thanks for the response.
Most of what you wrote is known to me, but the news of possible increases in direct UK flights is very welcome - let's hope at least some of it happens!
Having used the Vueling SVQ-LHR before it was axed, and both the Ryanair services to LPL and BRS, there is perhaps some hope that at least one of these routes will be re-introduced, not necessarily by the same carriers.
I was prompted to post initially after looking across the airfield on an almost daily basis and observing very little activity, with at times all the airbridges vacant, and nothing else in view, except the DHL 757 and TNT 146 which as you know arrive early morning and depart early evening.
A second EasyJet direct route to UK would especially be very welcome, perhaps LPL or MAN?
Let's see if all that resurfacing/expansion of the parking areas hasn't been wasted...
Most of what you wrote is known to me, but the news of possible increases in direct UK flights is very welcome - let's hope at least some of it happens!
Having used the Vueling SVQ-LHR before it was axed, and both the Ryanair services to LPL and BRS, there is perhaps some hope that at least one of these routes will be re-introduced, not necessarily by the same carriers.
I was prompted to post initially after looking across the airfield on an almost daily basis and observing very little activity, with at times all the airbridges vacant, and nothing else in view, except the DHL 757 and TNT 146 which as you know arrive early morning and depart early evening.
A second EasyJet direct route to UK would especially be very welcome, perhaps LPL or MAN?
Let's see if all that resurfacing/expansion of the parking areas hasn't been wasted...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: NCL
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The expansion of the parking area is an unnecessary investment that nobody understand why it had been done instead of other more useful repairs like the modernization of the check-in desks or the improvement of the distribution in the arrivals hall.
The best thing now according to SVQ-UK flights will be easyJet maybe flying to Manchester. I am not sure what are the most important bases of EZY in UK but I think they are MAN, LPL and BRS, so one of them would be fine. I will make a suggestion to airport marketing department this week...
Regards
The best thing now according to SVQ-UK flights will be easyJet maybe flying to Manchester. I am not sure what are the most important bases of EZY in UK but I think they are MAN, LPL and BRS, so one of them would be fine. I will make a suggestion to airport marketing department this week...
Regards
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Essex
Posts: 1,480
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If you mean biggest by "most important" then Gatwick is by far biggest for EZY, followed by Luton but it's Bristol that is the biggest outside of London, followed by Belfast, Edinburgh and then Stansted I think.
Liverpool and Manchester are actually two of the smaller bases but still have a significant presence at those airports. Ryanair is now bigger at both Liverpool and Manchester than EasyJet as far as I know (certainly at Manchester, in terms of passenger numbers).
I would think the most likely outcomes would be FR operating MAN-SVQ or EZY serving BRS-SVQ but if similar routes haven't lasted in the past then maybe their won't be such routes. I guess it's a case of time will tell.
Liverpool and Manchester are actually two of the smaller bases but still have a significant presence at those airports. Ryanair is now bigger at both Liverpool and Manchester than EasyJet as far as I know (certainly at Manchester, in terms of passenger numbers).
I would think the most likely outcomes would be FR operating MAN-SVQ or EZY serving BRS-SVQ but if similar routes haven't lasted in the past then maybe their won't be such routes. I guess it's a case of time will tell.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: NCL
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I see with difficulty easyJet flying BRS-SVQ. There is not enough 'leisure' demand to fill the planes. Airbus has created a demand, but no sufficient...
However, there is a strong demand to justificate a direct link between Seville and Northern England. I said EZY in MAN-SVQ because of the route BIO-MAN (similar city as SVQ). I thought EZY had more planes in this base, but as you say, RYR could be more easy to operate. Unfortunatly, RYR would not have more planes until few years, so resuming LPL-SVQ or adding MAN-SVQ will mean the suspension of other route.
However, there is a strong demand to justificate a direct link between Seville and Northern England. I said EZY in MAN-SVQ because of the route BIO-MAN (similar city as SVQ). I thought EZY had more planes in this base, but as you say, RYR could be more easy to operate. Unfortunatly, RYR would not have more planes until few years, so resuming LPL-SVQ or adding MAN-SVQ will mean the suspension of other route.
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: In transit
Age: 70
Posts: 3,052
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
San Pablo airport was extended and upgraded at the same time as the AVE was built to link Madrid to Seville, where a fancy new station was built for the AVE (Santa Justa?).
Barcelona would have made more sense for several reasons. Greater traffic, and the possibility of linking up with the rest of the European High Speed rail network, which is only being done now. The Olympics were held in BCN in 1992, but the Catalan capital had no AVE service until 2008 or thereabouts.
Ostensibly, the Sevilla link was built for EXPO in 1992.
Felipe Gonzalez, was PM of Spain at that time, is from Seville.
?Casualidad, o una historia de enchufados y corrupcion?
Barcelona would have made more sense for several reasons. Greater traffic, and the possibility of linking up with the rest of the European High Speed rail network, which is only being done now. The Olympics were held in BCN in 1992, but the Catalan capital had no AVE service until 2008 or thereabouts.
Ostensibly, the Sevilla link was built for EXPO in 1992.
Felipe Gonzalez, was PM of Spain at that time, is from Seville.
?Casualidad, o una historia de enchufados y corrupcion?
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW England
Posts: 148
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by FR8364
In the past (until 2011), there were flights with Ryanair to Liverpool (4x>2x), Bristol (2x) and East Midlands (3x). LPL worked perfectly in LFs and surely on yields. Mainly used by Nothern-English and with very good schedule in the afternoon. Lots of friends took this route which has been availible from Feb. 2006 until Oct. 2011. Then RYR cut some routes in its LPL base and Seville was one of them. There had been some rumours about RYR trying to put an SVQ-MAN but no further information was known
I'm glad I flew this route when I did as I had wanted to return to Seville for some time and having this route provided me with the incentive to do it. It's a nice city and for tourism to grow it needs good air links.
SVQ is a good, alternative airport for those wanting to cross the border into Portugal or to go to Gibraltar/points east or the coast in between, so it's a shame that from the UK flight options are now limited to airports serving London. It would be interesting to know the reason why these routes were cut, in particular LPL.
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Trumpville; On the edge
Posts: 435
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Seville - capital of Andalucia. Andalucia - second largest area of the autonomous regions in Spain, and the most populous (Wiki.)
Surely the area deserves better scheduled services to its airport?
Surely the area deserves better scheduled services to its airport?
I'm currently in Seville and keep seeing a very frequent airport bus in the city - never seen a passenger on it though. Seems everything is here, but the flights. The city is very busy with tourists, but few British ones. I flew from MAN to Malaga at a cost of almost 200 quid return + 60 quid on train fares, makes it a dear do from oop north. Can't help but feel EZY is long overdue on MAN-SVQ. Or maybe Monarch shouldn't have played with the ill fated Munich, but reintroduced the old jerez service.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: NCL
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Seville Airport can be comparable in terms of passengers statistics with UK airports of Newcastle, East Midlands or Belfast Intl. SVQ terminal was dessigned for 6 million pax/year, and it is now carrying between 4,2 (2012) and 4,9 (2011).
I have talk with airport authorities this week and I have told them about the lack of SVQ-UK flights. They told me they are working with BA Cityflyer for a link to LCY. They are also interested to resume LHR service with BA/VY. Unfortunately, no talks with neither RYR nor EZY to Northern England connections are open, but they will try in Routes Europe (or as least, they has told me).
My friends from Scotland, Manchester and Warrington living in Seville use AGP to get there almost every 2 months (in the past they flew to LPL). Others from Kent, Bath and Leeds uses LGW/STN from SVQ. It depends wether you preffer to move in UK or once you arrive in Spain...
Mr A Tis, hope you enjoy your trip to Seville
I have talk with airport authorities this week and I have told them about the lack of SVQ-UK flights. They told me they are working with BA Cityflyer for a link to LCY. They are also interested to resume LHR service with BA/VY. Unfortunately, no talks with neither RYR nor EZY to Northern England connections are open
, but they will try in Routes Europe (or as least, they has told me).My friends from Scotland, Manchester and Warrington living in Seville use AGP to get there almost every 2 months (in the past they flew to LPL). Others from Kent, Bath and Leeds uses LGW/STN from SVQ. It depends wether you preffer to move in UK or once you arrive in Spain...
Mr A Tis, hope you enjoy your trip to Seville
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Trumpville; On the edge
Posts: 435
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
They told me they are working with BA Cityflyer for a link to LCY
Judging by some comments on here, the airport authorities should be targetting LPL or MAN - I think the load factors could be pretty high on either.
Last edited by Trumpet_trousers; 26th Apr 2013 at 09:58.
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Israel, Kazakhstan, Spain
Posts: 306
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Flights to LCY gives connection options to GLA, EDI and ABZ. I for one would be happy with that as I need to travel to ABZ, for example, and at the moment that means 3 flights XRY-MAD-LHR-ABZ; so I would be happy to drive an extra 30 mins to take the flight from SVQ to LCY and then up to ABZ.
There may be demand for a MAN or BRS service, but at least this is a start...
There may be demand for a MAN or BRS service, but at least this is a start...
Well, as the only 2 existing UK routes are to London Gatwick & London Stansted, i would have thought another route to London city or London Heathrow, would only dilute what they already have. It certainly would not add any significant tourist numbers. RYR + EZY already operate in to Seville from Europe, so extending into UK should be achievable. However, maybe Monarch or Jet2 should give this overlooked city some consideration, for routes north of Watford. LPL or MAN + GLA or EDI, maybe seasonal Jan - May ?
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW England
Posts: 148
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Seville - capital of Andalucia. Andalucia - second largest area of the autonomous regions in Spain, and the most populous (Wiki.)
Surely the area deserves better scheduled services to its airport?
Surely the area deserves better scheduled services to its airport?