Ryanair is betting heavily that Spain will continue to attract lots of vacationers, despite any uncertainty over the secession crisis in Catalonia. It’s backing the bet with 29 new routes to and within Spain for next summer.
At the same time, Ryanair said last week that it has had to reduce prices on flights to Barcelona and its other Catalan bases at Girona and Reus by about 30% to keep the seats full because of uncertainty; at least for a time, the region had a 10-15% drop in visitors. “There’s a nervousness in passengers booking to Catalonia, particularly travellers on city breaks, in the UK, Ireland, Germany,” according to Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary.
The new routes that will fly this winter include destinations in Italy, Portugal, France, Germany, Morocco, Hungary and Poland as well as the UK. Others will come on line for summer. Most of the new routes focus on Valencia, Alicante, Seville and Barcelona.
