The Catalan airline wants to consolidate its hub at Barcelona Airport. Spanair, partially owned by the Catalan Government, plans to transform Barcelona El Prat into an international hub in its own right.
Managers from the 27 airlines forming the world’s leading group meet in Barcelona for two days. They stressed Barcelona El Prat’s “strategic” position and its potential to become a hub linking Europe with the Middle East, Latin America and Southern Africa. Barcelona El Prat is Europe’s 4th airport regarding passenger origin and destination. The Catalan Government reasserted its commitment with Spanair.
The Catalan airline company has added 17 new flight destinations within the last year. It has also kicked off a new and improved customer loyalty programme, ‘Spanair Star’.
25 intercontinental destinations will be available from the Barcelona airport starting the 31st of October. In addition, many flights to current destinations will increase their frequency. However, this increase is not shared with the Girona and Reus airports, which are seeing their destination variety and frequency decrease now that Ryanair is flying out of Barcelona. Besides, operating from Girona in 2011 will be 27% cheaper, as airport taxes have been modified.
Coastal city of Sitges, 25 km South from Barcelona, plans to become a leading pole of creativity. 'QUALIA Sitges' will dedicate 100,000 square metres to the fields of art and creativity. One of the main objectives of QUALIA is the creation of the 'Barcelona Institute of Performing Arts'.
The European leading centre for design research and promotion presents a new series of events to overview 21st century changes in production processes. 3D technologies are said to become an essential tool for design professionals.