A Ryanair rival is increasing its flights to Tenerife, following the Irish airline’s threat to cut another million seats from its schedule. Spanish airline Vueling is planning to offer nearly 900,000 seats to Tenerife North, the island’s second airport, this winter.
The company is based near Barcelona and is a subsidiary of the International Airlines Group (IAG), which also owns Iberia , Aer Lingus and British Airways. Vueling already operates flights to the Canaries from London Gatwick and Heathrow, with one-way tickets to Tenerife North averaging roughly £73. The decision to offer more seats to the popular holiday spot comes after Ryanair announced it would be cancelling all flights to Tenerife and Vigo, on Spain’s Iberian Peninsula.
Ryanair has dropped two million seats from its schedule over the summer and this coming winter. The company is embroiled in a furious row with Spain’s state-owned airport operator, Aena, over a 6.5% hike in airport charges.
CEO Michael O’Leary is now threatening to go further and cut another million seats to Spain, as the row escalates.
“I’m due back in Madrid in two weeks and will probably announce another million seats to be cancelled next summer,” Mr O’Leary told the Financial Times after the Irish carrier’s annual meeting. If costs in regional Spain are too high, we’ll fly elsewhere,” he continued.
“It’s better to fly to places like Palma [de Mallorca] for the same price than to fly to Jerez.”
Aena accused Ryanair of “extortion” and dishonesty, saying the airline had formally requested to operate more flights than it had threatened to cancel.
Last week, the Spanish airport operator’s president, Maurici Lucena, labelled Ryanair “impertinent.
He added the airline harboured a “disturbingly plutocratic” view of politics, in which “government decisions should yield to the interests of the most economically powerful companies.”
Aena says the increase in taxes in Spain to be paid by airlines will reach just €0.68 (£0.59) per passenger by 2026. Ryanair currently carries more passengers to and from Spain than any other airline, including the country’s flag carrier, Iberia.