Low passenger numbers have caused airlines to drop 11 routes from Almeria airport this month. We were supposed to have 29 routes across Europe this summer, but only 18 continue to function after airlines suddenly cancelled the rest for August.
Five of the cancelled routes were low cost and charter flights to European cities: Birmingham, Belgrade, Helsinki, Rome, Oslo. The other six were all to other Spanish cities: Tenerife South, Bilbao, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Zaragoza and Valencia.
Most of the Spanish connections were setup in anticipation of Imserso (the Spanish state owned version of Saga) bringing hundreds of OAP’s to the province, something which doesn’t seem to have happened. With no internal traffic, there’s no need for the flights and so they have been abruptly cancelled.
You can still fly to 15 European destinations from Almeria. London, Dublin, Brussels, Copenhaguen etc.
Don’t panic! cries the tourism board – they helpfully say this is still a success as it’s more than you could fly to four years ago when only six European cities were connected to the airport.
It seems that we are witnessing the determination of America Airport. The number of flights have greatly reduced over the past few years. How long will it survive?
Whilst, following your plea, we have written and pleaded with Monarch re the Birmingham flight with no response – Monarch then send an email extolling the virtues of Almeria as a destination …but only if you live near Manchester!
A friend with more persistance actually had a response. He argued, as a regular flyer, that Birmingham flights were generally full so numbers cannot be a reason. He received a reply that the economics of flights was not just passenger numbers but how much those passengers spent on the plane. He then asked did Manchester people actually spend significantly more than Birmingham people ….to which he has had no reply.
So what is the real reason ….Monarch doing back door deals with other travel companies such as Thomas Cook ….recently £480 return for Birmingham Almeria.
Interesting about that response from Monarch Andrew. There’s bound to be more reasons – maybe Monarch just wants to pull out of Birmingham all together?