EMIRATES is set to launch a daily Airbus A380 service on the route between Barcelona and international transit hub Dubai next February, a move which will likely boost traffic to and from the Far East.
Route capacity will increase by 44 per cent, thanks to the deployment of the 517-seat version of the A380. Through Dubai, the service links to 12 other A380 routes to Australia, the Middle East and Asia.
While the new service would benefit especially from corporate traffic between Spain and Asia, with 70 per cent of existing traffic already using Dubai solely as a transit point, the new link is expected to substantially boost holiday traffic in both directions and an already-strong expatriate market, said Fernando Suárez de Góngora, area manager for Spain, Emirates.
He also said that main onward destinations eastbound were currently China, Thailand, Pakistan, Australia and India. For Barcelona-bound flights, the airline is looking to market the route mainly to major commercial cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong, as Spanish companies are now turning from traditional markets to the east to sell their products.
The visiting friends and relatives market, especially among Chinese, Pakistani and Filipino communities, made up 20 per cent of existing traffic and helped make the route “less seasonal”, he added.
Francesc Escánez, managing director of Barcelona-based Atlàntida Viatges, an outbound operator whose main destinations include much of South-east Asia, believes the A380 service would boost outbound travel to countries such as Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and China.
According to him, “although (tours to these countries) sell, (they) could sell much more”, and while many of the company’s clients are professionals, the economic crunch in Spain has not put Asia beyond the reach of the less well-off.
“We have middle-level clients who enjoy travelling and save up part of their income for that one big trip a year, such as people who have a shop or a market stall,” he added.
