The Canary Islands airports will have 169 new routes out of the 858 that will operate in the next winter season, from October 27 to March 28, 2014, which is 27% more compared to the previous season.
The airports that are experiencing an increase in new routes are Gran Canaria, which will have 273, of which 55 are new; followed by Tenerife South, with 257 connections, 51 new this season; Lanzarote, with 146 routes, of which 28 are new; Fuerteventura, with 130, 32 new; and Tenerife North and La Palma, with 28 and 21 routes, of which 6 are brand new in each of these airports.
These routes will be operated by 61 airlines in Tenerife South, 52 in Gran Canaria, 40 in Fuerteventura, 37 in Lanzarote, 13 in Tenerife North, and 9 in La Palma. This represents a total of 212 airlines operating in these airports.
Among the most significant destinations of these new connections with the Canary Islands airports, Germany stands out, with 83 new connections, followed by the Nordic countries, with 40, and the United Kingdom with 23. It is important to highlight, also, France, Italy and Russia, countries with which there will be 7, 6 and 5 new routes, respectively.
The airlines will offer more than 9 million departure seats from the Canary Islands airports in the next season, which means an increase of 1.2 million seats, 15% more compared to the same season of the previous year.
Among the destinations that increase the number of seats the most with the Archipelago, the United Kingdom stands out, with more than 1.8 million (+27.2%), Germany, with more than 1.6 million (+28.6%), and the Nordic countries, with which will offer more than 1.4 million seats (+17% in the whole of this market). Also note the increase in seats scheduled by emerging markets such as Italy, Russia and France, which increase by 64%, 49% and 17%, respectively.
In the analysis by airports, among those that increase their offer the most of seats in the winter season, Tenerife South stands out, with an increase of 420,000 seats (+19.1%); followed by Gran Canaria, with more than 375,000 (+14.2%); Lanzarote, with 250,000 (+21.6%), and Fuerteventura, with 150,000 (+15.2%).
These data show a very positive trend in international tourism towards the Canary Islands and reflect a clear recovery of the air transport sector in the archipelago.