Rutas de Alicante y Murcia perdidas en aeropuerto de Santander, Bucarest se adjudicará pronto
Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport has lost its air routes to Alicante and Murcia, while the route connecting the Cantabrian capital with Bucharest (Romania) will be awarded «without delay.»
This was announced on Monday in response to press inquiries by the Minister of Development, Roberto Media, who stated that the Cantabrian airport «continues to have very good operations» and highlighted the improvements that seven routes will experience this summer.
Media explained that the Bucharest route, operated by Wizz Air, is «about to be awarded» through the public company Cantur and will be operational this year «without any issues,» as «this is what the company has committed to us.» «I hope that it will be awarded in the coming weeks and that the tickets will go on sale in the coming dates,» he pointed out.
Furthermore, he insisted that the loss of the Alicante route this year is due to a «war» between Ryanair and Aena over the fees applied to airlines at small airports (with fewer than three million passengers), which is due to the company’s own reasons. He also noted that this route is the «smallest» of all operated by the company at Seve Ballesteros, and therefore, «we have been among the least affected» in all of Spain.
In this regard, he recalled that last week he met with the Secretary General of Air and Maritime Transport, Benito Núñez, to request a reduction in fees so that the Cantabrian airport can compete on «equal terms» with Bilbao.
Media explained that the Ministry «has committed to studying it,» and clarified that competition is solely the responsibility of the Spanish Government, so Cantabria «has nothing to do, other than what we have done.»
Regarding flights to Murcia, operated by Volotea, the Minister justified the loss of this connection by stating that it «was not profitable.»
IMPROVEMENTS
On the other hand, the Minister of Development emphasized that Seve Ballesteros Airport «continues to have very good operations» and will have «significant» improvements by 2025, allowing it to remain a «reference» airport in northern Spain.
He highlighted that in terms of the route to Madrid, an airplane heading to the Spanish capital «stays one night in Parayas,» which has led to a 7 percent increase in the number of passengers in January, reaching almost 1,000 passengers compared to last year.
Regarding the connection to Barcelona, Media specified that it already has nine weekly frequencies, emphasizing that passengers can go and return on the same day to the Catalan city two days a week, which will increase to three «this month.» This route saw a 31% increase in passengers in January compared to 2024.
Additionally, he detailed that there are two flights per week to Seville in winter, which will increase to three in the summer season, as will the route to the Canary Islands, which will be maintained throughout the year. Similarly, in the summer, the operations to Ibiza and Menorca will increase from one to two days per week.
On another note, the Minister assured that, as «Ryanair has committed» to the Government, the number of flights to Dublin, London, Malaga, and Brussels will increase throughout the summer.
Finally, he recalled that in 2024, Seve Ballesteros Airport «nearly reached» 1.1 million passengers, falling short by 20,000 visitors to achieve its third-best record in history.
Media made these statements during the press conference where he presented the new ‘Circular Seas’ campaign.
