AIR BERLIN – LATEST VICTIM OF MURCIA’S GOVERNMENT POLICIES | Costa Blanca | Leader - News, Sport, Advertising, Property, Classifieds - Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Calida, Costa de Almeria, Spain

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AIR BERLIN – LATEST VICTIM OF MURCIA’S GOVERNMENT POLICIES

Sally Bengtsson / 2010-07-29 10:10:14

Air Berlin has been flying in and out of San Javier airport for six years.

The latest airline to pull our of San Javier Airport is Air Berlin, who announced last Tuesday in a press release that due to the lack of support from the Murcian government, and due to a drop in reservations, they planned to stop all their flights in and out of San Javier airport by the summer of 2011.

The airline is placing the blame for this situation on the Councillor for Tourism for Murcia, who wouldn’t agree to sign a financial agreement to promote the region of Murcia in Germany, and which would have made their stay in San Javier’s airport viable.

Air Berlin has been flying in and out of San Javier airport for six years. They will maintain their flights between Murcia and Palma de Mallorca and their hub, between November 1st and April 14th. Then these flights will stop.

In the press release the General Director of Air Berlin Spain and Portugal, Álvaro Middelmann, commented on how unbelievable he found the posture adopted by the Councillors for Tourism and Culture in Murcia.

“They haven’t grasped the importance of these routes for the region of Murcia,” he said. Middelman supports the use of joint publicity campaigns to stimulate tourism in the area, which would lead to an increased demand for flights.

Air Berlin are joining ranks with Ryanair in their criticism of the Murcian government. Air Berlin is the second biggest German airline, transporting 27.9 million passengers a year all over the world. It employs approximately 8,200 people.

Comments

Michael 04-08-2010 / 13:11

I used to live in Torrevieja, and left approx 3years ago after 6 years there, but towards the end of our time there we found that the Spanish were increasingly xenophobic with signs on motorway bridges proclaiming keep spain spanish, and guiries fuera, or foreigners out, so with that attitude towards us and after being called 'english dogs' by our neighbour,on more than one occasion, we had enough and left, and the attitude of the regional Murcia government is typical of what to expect, so we too would never ever go back, and are far happier in the UK, even if it does rain a bit more

Chris Wheately 30-07-2010 / 19:08

Stupid is as Stupid does.

Spain is loosing it's "S" (sun, sea and sand) appeal and is becoming just a pain.

We will certainly come over less frequently now and on average we spend a good grand every week we are normally over.

I truly hope that the British give Spain a wide berth from now on. The amount of cash we Brits have put into Spain has been enormous. It's about time they showed their appreciation and did everything to keep the numbers up.