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Mon, 26/02/2018 - 11:00

The Canary Islands connected to Nice thanks to the Flight Development Fund

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EasyJet, Canary Islands

From Promotur Turismo de Canarias, we continue to promote ties with the south of France with a new air route that will connect Tenerife South and Nice. This route is being implemented thanks to the Flight Development Fund, a programme approved by the European Commission and managed by Turismo de Canarias, consisting of 10 million euros and that allows for the opening of new routes of interest for the Canary Islands by public tender. The Fund has made it possible for 23 new regular routes to get underway between the Canary Islands and the rest of Europe.

The promotion of connectivity is one of the strategy lines of the Government of the Canary Islands, working toward opening new routes and maintaining already existing ones. The Flight Development Fund, like the rest of activities carried out for the improvement of air connectivity, responds to the client and market diversification objective carried out aiming to consolidate tourism leadership in the archipelago.

Out of the new routes introduced by the Flight Development Fund, five connect France to the islands: Fuerteventura-Paris, Lanzarote-Paris, Gran Canaria-Lyon, Fuerteventura-Lyon and Tenerife South-Nice. In addition, there is a public tender still open for two new routes between Tenerife and Marseilles and La Palma and Paris.

Tenerife-Nice will be operated by Easyjet from 5th September and seats have just gone up for sale. This will facilitate the arrival of tourists from the south of France with purchasing and great spending power and who are eager to travel. There will be flights twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, meaning around 20,000 more seats for Tenerife. The other line operated by Easyjet, Fuerteventura-Lyon, will start operating on 28th March, twice a week, Mondays and Fridays, bringing 20,000 more seats to Fuerteventura.

France is a target market in which the Canary Islands has positioned itself thanks to improvements in connectivity, which didn’t exist a few years ago. Thus making it possible for both, tourists using tour operators and independent travellers, to reach the island. This new regular connection is key when it comes to strengthening French tourism which has levelled in the past two years, despite its progressive growth for several years.