Ryanair slashes routes from Valencia by temporarily suspending 15% of flights from the Valencian Community as of this month. Daniel Hazelhoff reports…
Fly me to the moon never resonated so profoundly hollow as the new year arrives. And Covid cases just keep rising, despite vaccination rates at an all-time high in Valencia.
In the face of these two past years of hardship, the tourism sector has taken a battering. The health and safety situation was seemingly getting better. However, the crisis has taken a sharp turn for the worse. It currently maintains a level of fear among civilians and corporations alike. As borders seem to be wary of outside travellers, restrictions grow increasingly more intense.
It’s safe to say, with current restrictions, Valencianos and Valencianas will probably be spending the foreseeable future enclosed by four walls and a handful of their closest family members and friends. Dinner cancellations rife, Omicron has packed another blow to the gut of the tourism and hospitality industries.
Flights all over Spain will see a decrease in 2022 due to recent restrictions to ensure social health. Ryanair stated Wednesday 29 December that they will cut its global flight schedule by one third. Ryanair has also estimated a drop from 11 December from 11 million passengers to six or seven million in January. This is largely because of many suspended routes. Some of which affect the Valencian Community. Of the 107 active routes, Levante-EMV estimates a 15% drop. That is about 17 routes that will temporarily shut down in 2022.
Ryanair slashes routes from Valencia as a casualty of Covid
The new spike in cases has affected many airlines. Forcing a reassessment of their current routes. Vueling is to review its schedule for 2022. Valencian airports, however, seemingly have not suffered too much from the hit. The world’s leading airport management company, Aena, expects airports in the Community of Valencia to manage almost 6,00 flights between 22 December and 9 January.
“The Valencia Airport is losing nine routes. Alicante-Elche Airport is losing eight, and Castellón Airport is losing another one. A further 20 flights to the Canary Islands’ airports have also been retracted for the time being,” says Spanish News Today.
Not only is Spain affected by the restrictions, but internationally, Ryanair is to cancel one-third of all flights. The Lufthansa Group has cancelled 33,000 flights for the next three months. That is about 10% of their flights for their winter schedule, according to aviation24.be.
“Normally, airlines must use at least 80% of their slots. But for the summer of 2022, the European Commission has approved a usage percentage of 64%,” says aviation24.be.
Wizz Air has also seen an increase in suspensions for the winter season and the new year, until 26 March 2022. A total of 27 routes have been suspended until further notice, according to exyuaviation.com.
Focus on travel within the Comunidad of Valencia
As restrictions tighten their grip within our homes and abroad, travel during these tough times seems grimmer by the minute. However, we can take crumbs of comfort from the fact that Valencia is surviving, relatively speaking. As we pass on into the new year, we can take advantage of the Generalitat’s Bono Viaje, and travel within the Valencian Community.
After the success of last year’s Bono Viaje scheme, the Generalitat is hopeful that this will give residents a chance to know their region better and bring some succour to the battered hospitality sector here.
