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Spain's airline companies see winter sales boost due to Middle East dispute

Airline operators in Spain expect to offer 12% more seats this winter than a year earlier as tourists seek to steer well clear of conflict zones, the head of Spain's airline companies market group (ALA) said on Tuesday.

Traveler locations such as the Canary Islands will see more flights as some airlines re-route airplanes from Israel and other destinations in the Middle East, ALA President Javier Gandara told an interview in Madrid.

For the winter season, there have actually been a number of changes in airline schedules, many of them caused by the dispute in the Middle East, and Spain has actually had extra schedules, he stated.

An ALA quote published on Oct. 15 projection sales of 137 million seats through March, an increase on the 134 million predicted by Spanish airport operator Aena from data provided by airline companies in August, before the Middle East conflict spread.

Spain got a record 64.3 million foreign travelers from January to August, up 11% from the very same period in 2023, putting it on track for another record year for visitors despite growing local discontent over the effect of tourist in some hotspots.

Airline company capability continues to grow and we believe it can break the all-time record of in 2015 again in 2024, Gandara said.

Experts expect southern European airports to exceed their northern counterparts by traffic volume this year, with southern terminals getting more leisure travellers while northern locations stay concentrated on service travelers.

Spanish airports got 237 million guests in the year to September, 10% more than in the same duration of 2023, according to the most recent figures from Aena.

(source: Reuters)