Air Berlin has said that it is revising schedule levels to its four Andalucia destinations (Málaga, Seville, Jerez and Almería) and even said that it may drop Almería all together due to insufficient passenger numbers.
Pablo Caspers, head of Air Berlin for Spain & Portugal, said that Almería just wasn’t being promoted enough in Germany, and that there is barely sufficient demand to cover the route. He added that, despite overall bookings for 2011 being up, the Almería route was the worse performing route the airline had.
Pablo added that the airline had maintained capacity to Andalucia throughout 2010, despite tour operator bookings dropping, in the hope that 2011 would be better, but that if things continue the way they were going…
Talking of promoting Andalucia abroad, I noticed that Andalucía was being heavily promoted in Gatwick airport. Fair enough, but surely most people book their holidays before going to Gatwick airport? So why is a tourist destination being promoted in the airport? I also noticed that no other tourism destination seems to be shelling out for (no doubt expensive) advertising in the airport.
I did, however, enjoy the “I love Spain” adverts being run on buses throughout London. Different government runs those (Madrid).