Alicante-Elche airport will have connections from March 28 with eight German cities
In the absence of British tourism, which will not begin to move again before the end of May, the Costa Blanca will be able to count, in the short term, on an influx of visitors from Germany, after last week’s lifting of the German travel ban into the Valencian Community.
The Costa Blanca, which is no longer considered a contagion risk area, is now receiving hundreds of reservations in hotels and apartments.
Ryanair will start flying from 28 March between Alicante-Elche airport and eight German cities, including Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Bremen, Baden Baden and Düsseldorf, with at least a weekly frequency.
This puts an end the worst streak in the history of the airport, which last February closed with just 38,000 passengers, 95% less than the same month of 2020.
From this week, passengers travelling from the Community Valenciana to Germany do not have to go into quarantine, simply presenting proof of a test that shows they are free of covid. The situation is exactly the same, travelling in the opposite direction.
Two German companies, Lufthansa and Eurowings, have also supplemented their programming as of March 28.
Ryanair will offer 200 additional flights that will connect Palma de Mallorca and Alicante with the main German cities during Easter. This will mean an increase in capacity of almost 40,000 seats on 22 different routes from March 28 to mid-April.
In addition, many of these routes will continue to operate throughout the summer with flights available until March 2022. Ryanair has launched a seat offer with flights starting at € 19.99. This promotion will be available on the company website until midnight on Sunday, March 21.
Meanwhile, Jet2.com, the airline that connects the Costa Blanca with eight UK cities, and moves around 800,000 tourists a year, together with its tour operator Jetholidays, has told the hotels it works with of its intention to return to operations at the Alicante-Elche airport on May 17, coinciding with the day that the United Kingdom government plans to reopen its borders.
Jet2.com will also launch its tenth hub this summer, in Bristol, from which it will offer flights to 10 Spanish airports, joining those already operating in Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, East Midlands, London-Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, with direct flights.
Something to look forward to then, if you are a business owner, I guess. Mind you, if I lived in another part of Spain and was being told I could not travel down to the coast as normal for a holiday because of the perimeter closures and then reading this, I would not be a very happy bunny!