MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Barcelona-Gibraltar flights delayed by a month

Busy air traffic with Madrid on weekends, not so the rest of the week.

Aerolineas Ándalus will delay the launch of flights between British Overseas Territory Gibraltar and Barcelona, Spain by at least a month because of low demand. The company began selling tickets several weeks ago but few people were buying, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

The new flights were supposed to start next Monday but will now be pushed back until July at the earliest.

“We’re planning to reinforce the marketing campaign in that time to boost sales,” said Gorka Zamarreño, the airline’s marketing director.

The company also reported weak demand for its daily service between Gibraltar and Madrid. But it dismissed a report in the Spanish press that it was already rethinking its service on that route.

“The Madrid flight will continue as it is” said Zamarreño.

“Weekends have proved to be very busy for us, though load factors on weekdays have dropped occasionally to between 25% and 35% of capacity”.

Ándalus operates a 50-seat Embraer jet on the Gibraltar-Madrid route, though it occasionally drafts in a smaller plane if passenger numbers are low. The company recently started offering discount flight vouchers for corporate travellers.