Taking The Flak: Airlines and winter flights

A canard can mean different things. It is a misleading story or it is an added-stability surface on an aircraft. It is also, in French, a duck. Get ready to duck, everyone; the flak being fired at aircraft and airlines is flying.

The story of flights to Mallorca during the winter is not a canard. There may be more of a plot to the story than the simple "tourist authorities must do something" narrative, but it is not essentially misleading. Hence the rumblings of discontent expressed in "The Bulletin", as opposed to the rumblings of engines as aircraft land in Palma; rumblings coming, in particular, from all points northwards in the UK.

The assertion that "there are plenty of winter connections to Faro, Alicante and Malaga" (from Scotland) is not wrong. Nor is the suggestion that Palma is badly served. Take, for example, easyJet and Ryanair. Over a period from 15 to 26 February, there are, from Glasgow, six easyJet flights to Faro and four with Ryanair. For Alicante, seven easyJet connections, five Ryanair. Malaga? Nine and five respectively. The picture is rather different, when it comes to Palma. The number of flights is zero and zero.

These are just two airlines from one city, so the story is not complete, but you can get a flavour of the story by looking at these numbers.

It is hard to compare like with like, but let's just consider what happens with flights from Germany. Take a city such as Nuremberg, a fair-sized place but smaller by about 60,000 people than Glasgow. Air Berlin, over the same February period, is flying from Nuremberg 18 times to Faro, 17 times to Alicante, 31 times to Malaga and 23 times to Palma.

I make this, therefore, 23 more flights over a twelve-day stretch than from a larger UK city. Moreover, Air Berlin's flights to Palma cost way more than do those of easyJet and Ryanair to the three Iberian destinations: 250 euros one way is about its Palma average. EasyJet's basic charge across the three averages out at 85 euros; Ryanair's at 49 euros.

Notwithstanding differences in airline markets in the two countries, the comparison is stark. It is that stark that you are entitled to ask what the hell's going on. You could put it down to stronger business links between Germany and Mallorca and to there being a larger German presence on the island than that from the UK. But the greater German population, roughly double the size of the British, is still not 23 flights worth greater. And these are Air Berlin flights from only one airport; it flies from many others with similar regularity through the winter.

The example of Air Berlin and its Nuremberg flights has to be treated with one caveat, and that is that, apart from a hugely expensive and circuitous trip to Palma with Lufthansa, it has sown up this connection. Which probably explains its prices. Nevertheless, it still manages, if you believe the availability information on its website, to more or less fill these flights. But the sowing-up of the route is itself instructive. Air Berlin's relationship with Mallorca goes way beyond its flights. Its director in Spain and Portugal is the former president of Mallorca's tourism board. The island and the airline are pretty much joined at the hip. Contrast this amicable arrangement with, for example, Ryanair's often frosty relationship with both the Spanish and Balearic governments.

If you go back to the easyJet and Ryanair flights to the peninsula, why are they going there and not to Palma? Much of the explanation has to do with population. In the Alicante province, the official number of UK residents is 127,561. In Mallorca, it is in the region of 16,000. In Malaga province, the number is 40,700. Only in the Algarve is the official figure lower than in Mallorca. So why the flights to Faro? Maybe they're all to do with golf. Mallorca may want a winter golfing tourist, but it does not have the Algarve's reputation for winter golf.

In terms of tourism, Malaga serves not only the Costa del Sol. There are also the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and the ski resort. In Alicante, where the winter climate is much like Mallorca's, there are concerns that the Costa Blanca is losing its winter trade. Yet in the province as a whole (50% or so larger than the area of Mallorca), 392 hotels have been open this winter. Mallorca doesn't come close.

Despite Alicante's UK population and more of a winter tourism tradition, compare Air Berlin's Nuremberg flights and easyJet and Ryanair's combined Glasgow flights. There are five more Air Berlin flights. But what is the German population in Alicante? Nothing like that of the British. Just short of 30% of the size at 36,000.

All of this leads one to conclude that both in Mallorca and on the peninsula, Air Berlin is either out of step with other airlines or that it has been highly proactive in forging markets. Its traffic to Mallorca cannot solely be explained by business travellers or property owners. So there have to be tourists, and German tourists face the same issues as to hotels, restaurants and attractions not being open and face the same weather as their British counterparts.

One reason why Air Berlin is able to generate business is that cycling tourism from Germany is so popular. But it has become popular because of the tripartite efforts of tour operators, airline and tourism officials, co-operation that is vital. The airline may well enjoy more than just amicable relationships with the regional government (and other governments), but whatever agreements it has, something is working - to everyone's benefit.

The story of the lack of flights to Palma from Scotland, and indeed other parts of the UK, is not a canard. But the story is never quite as black and white as it might seem and never as simple as just blaming tourism authorities for inertia. However, the experiences of Air Berlin suggest that greater opportunities for British airlines exist than might be realised. This said, if British airlines started charging the prices Air Berlin does, then just wait for the flak to start flying.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.