The battle is on in Barcelona, Spain’s popular Mediterranean city where two airlines have started competing for passengers in the emerging trend of low-cost, long-haul flights.
The first flight operated by Level — a new carrier created by IAG SA, the parent company of British Airways PLC and Spain’s Iberia SA — on Thursday took off from El Prat airport for Los Angeles.
The airline also flies to San Francisco, Buenos Aires and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
Photo: EPA
Meanwhile, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, a pioneer in cheap long-distance flights, is to begin flights to New York, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco today.
The airline is to make Barcelona its fifth hub for such flights after London, Paris, Bangkok and Amsterdam.
In total, 22 low-cost transatlantic flights are to depart every week from Barcelona, breaking into a market that until recently was the preserve of traditional major airlines.
However, with the emergence of a new and more fuel-efficient generation of aircraft and the collapse of oil prices, low-cost carriers such as Norwegian and French Blue are increasingly operating transatlantic flights from European airports such as Paris or London.
Barcelona, a huge tourist magnet, is well-placed to ride on this new wave, given that it is Europe’s No. 1 hub for low-cost flights, air travel data company OAG said.
While it is still behind Madrid, the airport has seen passenger numbers leap 60 percent between 2009 and last year, but until now, the flights that took off from Barcelona were almost solely short or medium-haul.
“There was an anomaly in the market: Barcelona is a city with huge international profile... but long-distance flights weren’t up to the task,” a spokesman for Norwegian said, adding that the company saw “a market opportunity” to develop cheap long-haul flights.
Barcelona — a draw for tourists, including from cruise ships — was “well placed to work,” OAG analyst John Grant said.
“A large local market, inbound demand and low-cost airlines that will encourage passengers to connect through the airport will all support those low-cost long-haul services,” he said.
“Geographically, Barcelona is very well located to serve connecting markets from perhaps Asia to Latin America, although these are in many cases currently quite small, but will grow quickly with low-cost airlines present,” he added.
Barcelona has competition in this field from other European airports, and it might need a quick boost to airport staff after lengthy passport queues last month brought it plenty of unwanted attention.
Authorities in Catalonia, where the city is located, hope that the arrival of low-cost, long-haul carriers would boost growth in the region.
“We will be just 200 euros [US$226] away from Silicon Valley and the world’s biggest tech companies,” Catalonia’s head of infrastructure Ricard Font said.
For Jaume Adrover, head of the airport section of Barcelona’s chamber of commerce, the flights could benefit Catalan companies — even small ones with low budgets — whose employees could travel to Argentina or California at low cost.
Booked in advance, the prices could be much lower than traditional airlines, provided the passenger does not want to check in his or her suitcase or pay for food, and can fly on the few days in the week when the flight operates.
The arrival of long-haul cheap flights could also give local employment a boost, Adrover said, adding that El Prat generates 125,000 jobs, directly and indirectly.
Norwegian this year also plans to double its workforce there to nearly 800 people.
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