The airport of Barcelona it has run out of flights to the United States for the first time in 40 years. The airline Level, belonging to the group IAG, was the last to suspend its route to New York. At the beginning of last March, the three main US airlines canceled all connections to or from the Catalan capital.
Delta Airlines, American Airlines y United Airlines They canceled their routes with takeoff or landing in El Prat because of the advance of the Covid. The fall in demand, added to the travel restrictions ordered by the governments, determined that the routes between Barcelona and the United States were limited to the direct connection to New York offered by Level. After four decades in which the Catalans had a good offer to travel nonstop to the United States, they would now need to go through another airport to do so. Although it is a temporary decision, the announcement of Level, a partner of Iberia, is a hard blow for Catalan businessmen and politicians who, after 15 years promoting El Prat as a distribution center for intercontinental flights, see that the facilities are now going through their most difficult moment.
The routes to New York, one of the favorite destinations of the Catalans, have always been one of the main headliners of the international offer of the Barcelona airport, specialized in recent years in the segment of the low cost. Some 750,000 traveled in 2019 from one city to another on flights of the five airlines that operated the route. Four years ago, the airline Norwegian powered direct flights from Barcelona to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco Y Miami. In his attempt to overtake the Norwegian brand in the race for the low cost transatlantic, Level started its operations in El Prat with a flight to Los Angeles which was later joined by the one from the city of the Empire State. After more than a decade chasing the dream of being a hub With long-haul flights, the Barcelona aerodrome became a nucleus of the competition for low transoceanic costs. It was an idea far removed from the initial aspirations of Barcelona’s civil society, but the Catalans could cross the pond without going through Madrid. Three years later, El Prat is in its lowest hours.
Until the health situation improves, the routes between Barcelona and the United States operated by North American companies will continue to be suspended. Its intention was to resume activity this summer, but the conditions are not yet in place, airport sources explain. Barcelona thus goes from having an average of four daily frequencies to the country of the stars and stripes to not having any. After registering an occupation of between 10% and 30%, Level has suppressed the route between El Prat and El JFK airport from New York. His intention is to recover it as of January 13, 2021.
The three US airlines intend to return to Barcelona next summer but any details are unknown. Just American Airlines has announced that it will return to El Prat with a flight to New York and another to Chicago, so he would have decided not to recover those from Miami, Philadelphia Y Charlotte. And Norwegian, at the edge of liquidity, operating with only six aircraft, is not expected.
Intercontinental destinations
The main Catalan airport lost 40% of European destinations after the outbreak of the crisis. It conserves 13 intercontinental destinations, 72% less than in 2019. Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Emirates Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Level, Senegal Air, Royal Air Morocco, Tuniss Air and Air Arabia they are the companies that fly from El Prat to other continents. The Asian and Arab markets are its main targets. Bogotá it has recently been added to the list of long-haul destinations in Barcelona.
The second Spanish airport runs out of flights to the United States at a time when it loses a 84,7% of passengers in the last month for which there are records. An unprecedented drop caused by the incidence of the coronavirus. Compared to October 2019, last month meant the loss of 712,283 travelers, according to data from Aena. The accumulated annual decline plummets to 74%, far from the record statistics of the last years.
The bad figures of El Prat, similar to those of Baraja’s airport -86.6% drop in October; 70.4% accumulated-, mean that the infrastructure faces a very complex winter season in the economic section. The leading airline in Barcelona, Vueling, has reduced its offer by 41%, the same figure as Iberia. The companies hope to take off for the summer season, which will begin at the end of March 2021.
The reforms planned to expand the airport are stalled. The construction of the satellite terminal is therefore temporarily on hold. The other great project of Ministry of development is the construction of the service Nearby Renfe in the terminal T1, which should be completed in 2023.
The fall of travelers causes losses in the bars, shops and restaurants of the aerodrome. The tenants of the premises are the ones who decide whether to open their shops or not. Today there are fewer passengers in the terminals and they are less inclined to make purchases.
Passenger operations will be concentrated again from December 1 at terminal T1, as happened during the state of alarm. The low cost airline Ryanair, the one that transports the most travelers from T2, will be the most affected by the move.
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