Very quiet El Altet - the future now?

Back in October, Ryanair wrote a letter to Aena, the airport operator at El Altet Alicante offering to increase frequency of existing flights and create new routes on the understanding they they removed the mandatory use of airbridges. They gave them a deadline of 15th November, which was extended until the following Monday and have now had a response. The answer is NO!

Figures released by Aena show that traffic at the airport fell by a massive 16% last month, the highest in Spain - Malaga was 4.5% and Palma only 0.3%... seems a somewhat flawed decision to me. However, Aena have  refuted Ryanairs claims that they could increase passenger numbers and create more jobs with their proposals if they would be allowed to embark and disembark all passengers on foot. 

Ryanairs proposal was unanimously supported by hoteliers in the region and also by all tourist associated businesses, many of who are suffering at the moment, as it would have bought more people to the resort. It certainly looks like Aena have absolutely no interest in growing tourism or creating jobs in the region....  Currently Ryanair load and unload around half of their flights on foot so I can´t get my head around their reasoning on the safety issue. It obviously has to solely be the fact that they would not be able to charge the airline for the use of the airbridges in my opinion. If they deem it safe to allow 50% of the flights not to use the them they they don´t have a leg to stand on. They just don´t seem to grasp the bigger picture.

Ryanair will now have to rethink and may end up using the new airport in Murcia - Corvera, which is due to open sometime in the Spring, instead of El Altet. But, and its a big but, Aena will be managing this one too so it will be interesting to see if they go through the same squabble again. The current San Javier airport in Murcia will revert to being a military aircraft base once the new one is open.  However, if Ryanair do start flying there, be careful that they don´t call it South Alicante... it is roughly 100 km away from El Altet and you book this for your holiday to Benidorm. All I can say is that it will be a very long transfer to your hotel from there!

With regards to Aena, the phrase "Cutting off your nose to spite your face" comes to mind... they certainly can´t see the bigger picture - more passengers more spending! Somehow I don´t think that Santiago Martinez-Cava, Director of El Altet is flavor of the month with many people.

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