markmartin
8th Feb 2005, 21:01
According to a Spanish newspaper, the company is considering four bases to begin domestic operations from next year: Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Alicante. Madrid is said to be the favourite airport, as it will have lots of available slots from april this year, when (hopefully) two more runways will be opened.
Here´s the link to the article (sorry, only in Spanish):
http://elmundodinero.elmundo.es/mundodinero/2005/02/08/Noti20050208190459.html
Oshkosh George
8th Feb 2005, 21:30
I was trying to post a Google translation of this page,but couldn't get it to work.
In it,Easy states it could take a YEAR to decide which base/s to use!
GemStA
9th Feb 2005, 10:57
Sorry....not the best translation (used babelfish)....but you get the general idea!!!
easyJet, the airline company of low cost glides to do domestic flights in Spain the next year, from an operational base that the British airline will choose between the airports of Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante or Malaga. The news arrives in the middle of a climate of malaise between the great Spanish airlines by the competition of the companies of low cost. Iberia has been most direct in expressing the crispation, and has gotten to assure that it will leave certain routes in which it agrees with low flights of cost, that in many cases receive subventions. "Or they do not subsidize any or they do it with all. If no, we will have ourselves to go ", said the delegated advisor of Iberia, Mullor Angel.
Election between airports From easyjet they assure to be in "an evaluation process, by the weight that it has in our network and by its potential of growth in the domestic market, is the Maxima of our priorities", according to explained the chief of a main directorate of the company, Ed Winter. "Madrid is very surpassed by great availability of ' slots' (right schedules of takeoff and landing) that will be with the extension of the airport, but also we must study other questions like the costs of operations or the agility in the rotation of airplanes that offers each airport", indicated. "the evaluation process will extend around a year reason why the definitive decision will not be immediate, but the possibility even fits In order to satisfy its ambitious plans with expansion, the airline will increase its present fleet compound percent airplanes until the 160 airships in 2006.
The director discarded that the election of its operational base in Spain can be in favor conditional of the concession of some type of public aids on the part of the regional authorities of the airports in heddle. In fact, Winter assured that the subsidies that easyJet in certain airports receives, like the agreement of promotion subscribed recently with the Asturian authorities for the opening of a line between Asturias and London, "are aids transparent, opened and available for all the operators and in line with the rules dictated in Brussels". In this sense, easyJet congratuló of the intention of the European Commission, announced this morning by the spokesman of the commissioner of Transports, Jacques Barrot, to clarify the conditions of concession of subsidies public to the regional airports. "we are analyzing the rough draft of the European Commission, but we give the welcome to any type of regulation that clarifies the subject of the aids", it indicated. The airline the past transported year a total of 6.04 million passengers from and towards Spain, where already it operates 53 routes in 10 airports, which represented around 25% of the traffic of all its network.:O :O :O