Business

The first plane connecting Shanghai and Barcelona landed at El Prat airport on Friday at 08:05am. The route, operated by Air China, is offered all year round, three days a week: Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The plane, an Airbus 330-200, has capacity for up to 239 tourist class ticket holders and 16 business class ticket holders. On its first trip, the plane had an 86% occupancy rate. The round trip from Barcelona to China departed from the Catalan capital at 12:30pm with an occupancy rate of 88%. All flights for the weekend are already fully booked. Òscar Olive, Airports of Catalonia's commercial director, praised Air China for “having been able to recognize” the “clear demand” for direct connections between Barcelona and Asia. The airline has offered a direct link between the Catalan capital and Beijing since 2014.

The Catalan economy is getting stronger, according to the latest growth figures published on Thursday by the Catalan Ministry of Economy and the Office of Statistics (IDESCAT). Catalan GDP grew 0.7% between January and March, a 0.2% increase in comparison with the two previous quarters. The labor market is also improving, with April figures showing the largest decrease in unemployment in that month in 21 years. With 425,751 people without jobs, Catalonia is reaching the pre-crisis levels of unemployment. The official data shows that unemployment fell by 4.54% between March and April 2017, and by 12% year-on-year.

The ports of Barcelona and Miami have signed a deal to increase the quantity of cruises and cargo traffic. The agreement looks to exchange information in order to improve the areas of mobility, security, maritime management, and environment. Thanks to this collaboration, Miami, the most important port when it comes to cruises, and Barcelona, Europe’s leading cruise port, will strengthen their ties. The agreement was signed during the trip of Catalonia's vice-president and minister of economy, Oriol Junqueras, to the United States, which began on Monday. According to the Catalan delegation, the Spanish consul in Miami tried to interfere with the agenda and the planned official events at the signing of the agreement. Cándido Creis wanted to force the text to include a reference to the “Spanish Kingdom”. However, this reference did not exist in any prior agreements between the two ports, and it was not included in this new one either.

The Catalan company Abertis reached an agreement with the minority shareholders of its Italian subsidary, A4 Holdings, to buy an additional 22.52% of the business' assets. The group will pay a total amount of €125 million, €89 million by the end of July, 2017 and the final €36 million by the end of January, 2018. As a result of the transaction, Abertis will now control 85.36% of A4 Holding, reinforcing its growth strategy and, in particular, its business in Italy, an attractive market for the group. The company said in a press release that the deal “demonstrates Abertis' ability to grow internationally in an attractive way while maintaining its financial discipline”. The purchase also fits with its management strategy which, according to the company, “allows investments in assets it knows well and where it faces no competition, reducing its operational risk profile”.

The British airline Jet2 launched a new connection this Friday between Reus Airport, located about 100 kilometers from Barcelona, and London-Stansted. In addition, starting Saturday, Birmingham will be added to their routes from Reus. The new connection with London-Stansted will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays whereas the flights between Reus and Birmingham will be available on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. They will offer 228,000 seats and expect to grow by 65% in comparison with last summer. Jet2 already offers seven routes from Reus to Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds, East Midlands, and Newcastle and will offer 30 weekly flights, 10 more than last year.

The increasing number of licenses for “rental cars with chauffeur” caused strikes and demonstrations by hundreds of officially-licensed taxi drivers in several Catalan cities on Wednesday. According to representatives of the taxi transport sector, these licenses, also known as VTC, open a legal loophole for the unregulated activity of transport services through mobile apps like Uber or Cabify. In Barcelona almost a thousand taxi drivers marched through the city center to the Delegation of the Spanish Government, blocking traffic in the very heart of the Catalan capital, to demand a solution for the sector. Representatives of several taxi driver unions met with the Deputy Representative of the Spanish Government in Catalonia, Emilio Ablanedo, and asked him to communicate their demand for regulation of new mobile platforms to the Spanish Ministry of Public Works.

The Catalan cava producer Codorniu announced that they will stop producing for foreign brands and will instead focus on their own Premium and Prestige products. The company explained that white label production (producing for third parties) is no longer profitable and thus must be stopped. The company said that production for third parties, basically in the United Kingdom, represents 5% of sales. According to the Catalan cava company, suspending this area is one of the major steps in its strategic plan, which was launched in 2015, and means that around 100 workers of the company will be let go. Sources at the company explained to the Catalan News Agency that the layoffs will affect both Catalonia and the rest of the countries where Codorniu is present.

The North American multinational Amazon has announced the hiring of 800 workers in order to incorporate their Amazon Robotics cutting edge technology at the logistic centers of Castellbisbal and Prat de Llobregat, just outside Barcelona. These 800 jobs are in addition to the 1,500 hirings that they had already announced would take place over the next three years. 200 of these new positions will be in Castellbisbal, where the new technology is already in use, and the other 600 will start at the new logistics center in Prat, which is opening in October, 2017. In addition, Amazon is contracting highly qualified engineers for the maintenance of the whole system at the two centers.

American Airlines new direct link between Barcelona-El Prat airport and Chicago is expected to increase the airline's passengers in Catalonia by 15%. The new flight will operate from the 6th of May and will be offered alongside the current flights to Miami and New York. American Airlines also flies seasonally direct from Barcelona to Charlotte and Philadelphia. The Regional Sales Director of American Airlines in Spain and Portugal, José A. Blázquez, confirmed these figures in a press conference this Tuesday in the Catalan capital. Barcelona is a key destination for American tourists, said the U.S. Consul General, Marcos C. Mandojana, who highlighted the growing number of connections from Catalonia to his country.

Catalan Minister for Territory and Sustainability, Josep Rull, and Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, called for a “clear”and “verifiable”calendar for the Mediterranean Railway Corridor. They voiced these demands to the Spanish Minister for Public Works, Íñigo de la Serna, during the meeting of the Strategic Board for the Mediterranean Railway Corridor in Madrid. In response, de la Serna promised to promote this key infrastructure, which is set to transport freight and passengers non-stop from Gibraltar to Central Europe along the Mediterranean coastline, and explained that the delays in the construction resulted from a “lack of administrative capacity”to carry them out. The Board gathers together representatives from the parliamentary groups in the Catalan chamber, trade unions, business associations, chambers of commerce, professional colleges, universities, chartered institutes, and city halls.

The North American giant Amazon will open a new logistics center in Martorelles, 20 kilometers north of Barcelona, aimed at serving the European market. The 30,000 m2 plant will become operational in the fall and will be located in Martorelles’Can Roca business park. The new center will initially employ 200 people but is expected to create 650 jobs within the next three years. Martorelles’center will consolidate Amazon’soperations in Catalonia. It has already set up two plants near Barcelona while the main logistics center—which will be Amazon’s biggest in the south of Europe and will be located next to Barcelona’s ‘El Prat’airport—is expected to be operational by fall.

Spain’s budget for 2017 allocates €1.14 billion to invest in Catalonia, €30 million less than last year. However, as a percentage, the figure represents 13.4% of the total, which is higher than in 2016, which saw only 10.7% investment for Catalonia. The allocation is still below Catalonia’s contribution to Spain's GDP, which is 19%. Although most of the investment is oriented toward infrastructures, the figures are a far cry from the major investment that Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, announced last week for Catalonia. Indeed, he said that €4.2 billion will arrive in Catalonia by 2020. Spain's Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro, admitted that the budget doesn’t include the promised measures and assured that the investment “will move forward in 2018”.

Unemployment in Catalonia fell by 10.7% in March in comparison to the same month last year, totaling 446,017 people. According to the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security, 6,325 people left the unemployment lists last month, which represents a slight 1.40% decline in comparison to February. However, with this drop, Catalonia has now registered 45 consecutive months of declining unemployment in annual terms. The number of jobless also fell across the whole of Spain. There were 48,559 fewer unemployed at the end of March and the number of people without a job totaled 3,702,317. Moreover, the number of unemployed in comparison to the same month last year fell by 9.58%, the highest decline registered in March since the beginning of the historic series.

Hong Kong-based multinational Thunder Power, which specializes in electric vehicles, is planning to open an R&D center in Catalonia. The center will become operational in 2018, involve an initial investment of €80 million, and create 200 jobs, a company statement revealed last Thursday. The group is also considering building a plant in Catalonia for assembly and distribution. This project will be ready by 2020, will create 1,000 jobs, and could produce up to 50,000 vehicles per year. The agreement was signed during the unveiling event of the first running prototype at the prestigious Eaton House in Hong Kong. Over 250 business professionals from Barcelona, Catalonia, and Hong Kong participated in the showcase, including the Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, and the Second Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni.

The so-called Mediterranean Railway Corridor, a long-awaited piece of infrastructure which is set to transport freight and passengers non-stop from Gibraltar to Central Europe along the Mediterranean coastline, is one of the most representative examples of Spain’s lack of investment in Catalonia. Despite being essential not only for the Spanish economy but for the entire European economy as well, its construction has been repeatedly delayed. Even the European Commission has called for “cooperation between administrations” to implement the Corridor, which is regarded as a key infrastructure for Europe. Moreover, the delays in the construction of the Corridor are affecting private investment, the Catalan Government has warned. According to Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability, Josep Rull, the pending business investments are worth €300 million, of which €20 million corresponds to an investment from the German multinational Basf, which announced it will expand one of its plants in Tarragona.