Spanair to fly to Hamburg and Berlin in April

Barcelona (ACN).- In its second phase to convert the Barcelona-El Prat airport into an international hub, Spanair announced that it plans to add two new German destinations starting this April, Hamburg and Berlin. The new routes follow Spanair’s November additions of Bamako (Mali) and Tripoli (Libya). The company currently offers 22 destinations from the Barcelona airport, 17 which have been added within the last year. Spanair has also begun a new initiative to promote client loyalty. The programme awards passengers benefits and special services when they travel with the companies that are part of Star Alliance.

According to the commercial director of the company, Núria Tarré, Spanair will operate flights 3 times a week from Barcelona to Hamburg and 4 times a week from Barcelona to Berlin. The new routes bring the company’s destination offer to 22, with 17 routes opening within the last year. 

Opening new routes within Europe is the first step towards operating intercontinental flights, something the company is planning for 2012. Thanks to Spanair’s participation in Star Alliance, the company now offers 65 direct intercontinental routes from Barcelona. The chairman of the company, Ferran Soriano, says that Spanair also plays an important role in convincing airlines to operate from Catalonia.

A new loyalty programme

Spanair is also undergoing a commercial re-launching in efforts to increase income and improve their offer. The latest of Spanair’s renovation plans includes a new and improved customer loyalty programme, ‘Spanair Star’. The programme aims to “innovate”, allowing clients to benefit from all the advantages in the Star Alliance group.

Spanair’s commercial director affirms that the company is already receiving good results at the El Prat airport. The number of passengers has increased by 14%, 10% of which pass through the airport on connection flights.  He assured that the low-cost airline Ryanair’s arrival to the Barcelona airport has not caused a drop in the number of customers. He did say that the main competitive element is prices, but stated that Vueling has been more affected by Ryanair’s arrival. This is because both Ryanair and Vueling offer “point to point” destinations, while Spanair focuses on intercontinental connections.