san francisco

Direct service to Californian city will be available every day from May to October

Vilafranca 'castellers' group brings long-standing Catalan tradition to Golden Gate Bridge

Maria Branyas was born in 1907 and still remembers World War I

Barcelona El Prat Airport will be connected to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Miami through direct flights operated by low-cost airline Norwegian. Thus, Barcelona will host the only direct route to San Francisco in the whole of Spain. The new connections will start working in June 2017 and from August onwards Norwegian will offer four weekly flights to New York, three to Los Angeles and San Francisco and two to Miami. In total 325,000 places will be offered in the first year, most of them, 175,000, to California. According to Norwegian’s CEO, Bjorn Kjos, the company is set to also offer other new routes from the Catalan airport. 

59 days after the celebrations for the historic treble achieved by the blaugranes last season, Camp Nou comes back to life after a summer hiatus with the visit of Italian side AS Roma for the traditional pre-season opening game at the stadium, the Joan Gamper Trophy. The clash with the Serie A club will mark the end of a pre-season which has taken Barça to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC and Florence. The first team will be presented to the fans before the game and a party atmosphere is guaranteed in the final test for Luis Enrique’s squad ahead of their attempt to claim the European and Spanish Super Cups. With the return of Claudio Bravo to training on Monday, Luis Enrique now has his entire first team squad back after the summer break, although Arda Turan and Douglas continue their respective recoveries from injury.

Confident FC Barcelona defeat the MLS champions with goals from Luis Suárez and Sergi Roberto. FC Barcelona got their preseason off to a fine start with a 2-1 victory against MLS champions Los Angeles Galaxy at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena in front of an astonishing crowd of 93,226. Goals from Luis Suárez and Sergi Roberto put the Catalans well in command, and Tommy Meyer’s 92nd minute header merely served as late consolation for the Californian outfit. There was a carnival atmosphere in the stands, but the football in the first 45 minutes did not always rise to the occasions. Barça were still trying to get into their rhythm in their first game after the summer break against a side that is already deep into its own season. But the Galaxy limited most of their efforts to frustrating the Catalan game-plan. 

The low-cost airline Norwegian Air Shuttle announced it may connect Barcelona to 5 United States cities by 2016: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Orlando. The cheapest roundtrip tickets would be less than $300, stated the Scandinavian company’s Founder and CEO, Bjorn Kjos. The announcement was made on the day Norwegian unveiled its headquarters for Southern Europe, based at Barcelona El Prat Airport. The low-cost airline has transformed the Catalan capital’s main airport into one of its main operational bases worldwide. In 2014 alone, Norwegian increased by 36% the number of passengers it transported through the airport. Last year, Barcelona El Prat broke its passenger record with 37.5 million people. The Catalan Minister for Transport, Santi Vila, stressed that Norwegian’s plans contribute to transforming Barcelona El Prat into an intercontinental hub.

FC Barcelona will go on a tour of the United States of America and Mexico in the summer four years after their last pre-season tour of the continent. Despite dates not yet being confirmed, the Catalan club has made official the news that the blaugranes will be returning to American soil for the fifth time in the last twelve years (2003, 2006, 2009 and 2011).In 2012 the team took part in various pre-season games across Europe and in 2013 they toured the Asian continent. In 2014 with Luis Enrique installed as coach, the squad enjoyed a pre-season training camp in Birmingham in the United Kingdom before playing in three friendly matches in Nice in France, Geneva in Switzerland and Helsinki in Finland.

Between the 18^th and the 20^th of November, Barcelona is hosting the 4^th edition of the Smart City Expo World Congress. This year it will be the most international edition so far, with 400 cities from 5 continents represented, a 33% increase. Participating cities include Berlin, Munich, Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco, who are present at the Fira de Barcelona exhibition centre. The goal of reaching 9,000 visitors may be achieved, as nearly 700 people attended the opening ceremony on Monday. Companies are presenting technological applications for improving the sustainability, mobility and quality of life of everyday citizens. Applications being presented this year include drones for cities, technology to monitor free parking for busy commuters, and applications to assess air quality for the physically active and for choosing the best place to open a business.

During the first half of the year, the revenues of the Catalan multinational pharmaceutical company Grifols rose by 16.7% to €1.61 bilion, 75% of which came from the Bioscience division and 18% from Diagnostic. Compared to the first quarter, the proportion of total sales generated by each of the group’s divisions remains unchanged after the acquisition of Novartis' diagnostic business. The world´s third-largest blood-derivate product maker, Grifols obtained a net profit of €224.8 million, 23% more compared with the same period last year, as reported by the company to the Spanish Stock Exchange Authority (CNMV). These positive figures were achieved due to the maintenance of financial costs, made possible by improved financial conditions, despite having increased debt in absolute terms.

The Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, emphasised that Cisco’s new centre will put the Catalan capital “in the forefront” of smart city projects. Cisco will invest €4.5 million in its new centre working on electric mobility, smart lighting and other urban projects. On top of this, the American company will also invest another amount, yet to be determined, to renovate the Ca l’Alier factory, which is owned by the City Council and has been transferred to the American company in exchange for the renovation. In addition, Trias – who is on an official trip to the United States – and the Mayor of San Francisco, Edwin M. Lee, agreed to increase the cooperation between the two cities, starting with setting up a regular direct flight connection.

The Catalan capital has just become ?twins? with another city in the world, the Californian city of San Francisco. Ignasi Cardelús made an agreement with the San Francisco mayor on Monday recognising the cities commonalities.