Spanair will operate daily flights between Jerez and Barcelona from April onwards, according to Lars Nygaard, the general director of Spanair, and once a day to Bilbao in summer.

Iberia flies between Jerez’s La Parra airport and El Prat airport in Barcelona every day. This route will be expanded with the Spanair flights from April 2007 onwards, which will mean that travellers will have the choice of three flights each way, one with Iberia and two with Spanair.

From the summer onwards, Spanair plans to fly between Bilbao and Jerez every day. The airline sees this as an ongoing operation and not just during the high season, as it is part of its expansion plan to gain market share among business passengers.

Spanair believes that it will be have timetables and prices up on its website at the beginning of the year, but plans to establish a daily flight each way, including at weekends.

There is currently no company that operates between the Basque Country and the airport serving the province of Cadiz, which is a major receptor of Basque tourism.

With Iberia, the prices of flights between Barcelona and Jerez can range between €65 (return plus taxes) and €735. Spanair has announced "more competitive prices" and is principally aiming at the business market. 

Over 25,000 passengers have arrived to Jerez so far this year on regular flights from Barcelona and the average occupancy rate with Iberia has been over 66% with a peak of 78.93% in April.

Ibeira had two daily flights between Barcelona and Jerez until last May when it decided to operate a daily flight from Monday to Sunday in each direction. The Iberia flights currently leave Jerez at 10.05 am and at 4.20 p.m from Barcelona. Spanair still has to announce its timetables.

Spanair has been operating continuously from Jerez Airport since last April with flights to Madrid. In summer, it operated routes between La Parra and other destinations such as Tenerife Sur/Reina Sofia, Gran Canaria and Palma de Mallorca.

Spanair offers over 600 flights every day and in shared code with its partners to 150 destinations. Since April 2003, it has been part of Star Alliance, the largest global airline network worldwide.

The company added that the new Jerez-Barcelona route will therefore open up the possibility of connecting with the wide range of intercontinental destinations offered by Star Alliance, from hubs such as Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Zurich and Munich, with routes to 841 airport, in 157 countries using the 18 air companies that belong to the Alliance.

http://www.spanair.com