Granada Airport will have a new flight connection starting in April, 2026. It will be with the French city of Nantes and will be operated by Voletea.
This is the first flight to arrive through the public tender launched by the Provincial Council to secure more destinations for Granada airport.
In July, it put up 2-million euros to encourage airlines to provide international (European) destinations for Granada flights that should operate for a period of at least three years.
During those three years, the Provincial Council will pay 250,000 euros for each European destination during the first year; 175,000 euros in the second year; and 125,000 euros during the third year of the contract for each of the three destinations established in the tender: France, the UK and Portugal.
So far, only the French connection (no pun intended) has come to fruition. The Provincial Council explained that it is difficult to attract interest under the present, air-travel, market conditions: Covid halted aircraft manufacturing and since then, aircraft shortage has been a problem; in other words, charter companies need extra aircraft to cover extra routes, but find it very difficult to find them.
As mentioned above, the low-cost, charter company, Volotea, has only offered to cover the French route but has shown no interest for the UK or Portuguese one, so the tender for these two destinations has been declared void.
Come April next year, Granada Airport will have three international connections: Nantes (Voletea), Amsterdam and the Paris flight (Vueling), with the latter returning in October after a summer break.
The Council will now begin direct negotiations with airlines to re-establish the lost London flight. If this also proves unsuccessful, a new tender will be issued to see if the operators are willing to accept financial support in exchange for advertising on their airlines and bringing the flights to Granada.
The flights—as established in the tender—will have to be 124 per year for each airline. The flights always begin in spring or autumn, so the plane to Nantes could be launched in April 2026, and the London and Porto (Portugal) flights are expected to be secured for launch in November of next year. The bidder may choose to operate the flights partially or fully during the winter months, as long as they meet the minimum flight volume requirements.
Asturias, Barcelona, Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Madrid, Melilla, Palma de Mallorca, Santander, and Tenerife North are the nine national destinations available from Granada, along with Amsterdam, Paris, and now Nantes.
(News: Granada Airport, Vega, Granada, Andalucia)
Keywords: Voletea, Vueling, Asturias, Barcelona, Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Madrid, Melilla, Palma de Mallorca, Santander, Tenerife, Nantes, Amsterdam, Paris, Granada Airport Connections, Provincial Council
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