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The Flight Development Fund (FDV in Spanish) is a strategy whose purpose is to incentivize airlines that are considering opening new routes to the islands. It has opened a latest public bid which has been published by Promotur Turismo de Canarias.

The global budget for the bid on this occasion is 3.2 million euros, and its aim is to continue to move forward in the search for new inbound markets while strengthening the current ones. If all the routes on offer were taken up, it would mean an annual increase of at least 180,000 inbound plane seats. Taking into account that the initial commitment on the part of the airlines is for two years, this would mean a total of 360,000 new airline seats over this period.

Route selection

The selection of flight routes responds to analytical research and agreements made between Turismo de Canarias and the islands’ promotional institutions in line with relevant strategic interest, their potential viability, and the absence of any previous connections between the two destinations concerned. The routes could therefore join the islands up with Austria (Lanzarote-Vienna), Slovakia (Gran Canaria and Tenerife with Bratislava), United States (Gran Canaria-New York), France (Lanzarote-Lyon), Italy (Lanzarote and Gran Canaria with Naples, Tenerife-Bari, La Palma-Milán), Poland (Fuerteventura-Warsaw), Portugal (Lanzarote-Lisboa), United Kingdom (La Palma with Edimburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow), Rumania (Fuerteventura-Bucharest), Russia (Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria with Moscow, and Tenerife with St. Petersburgh) and Switzerland (Tenerife-Berne and La Palma-Basle).

These latest offers are added to the 24 routes from the previous bid in March 2017 which is ongoing, as some of the routes are still to be adjudicated, such as Tenerife-New York, Bucharest-Gran Canaria, Vienna-La Palma and Bratislava-Lanzarote, among others. From last year’s bid there are some routes already in operation, such as Lyon-Gran Canaria, Helsinki-Gran Canaria, Lisbon-Tenerife, while next winter will see Lyon-Fuerteventura and Nice-Tenerife starting up.

Indefinite public bids

Since the passing of the FDV in April 2014, 23 highly interesting new routes for the islands have been opened up. It is a long term project, as not all airlines plan their routes so far in advance, and some need up to two years before they actually include them in their expansion plans. In fact, the experience gained from previous bids has led to routes being opened indefinitely, allowing airlines to keep them on standby in their decision committees, as some short term decisions are simply not viable in this context.

Alongside the Fund, Turismo de Canarias’ strategy includes attending international air transport forums in which they offer relevant information on the islands’ seven holiday destinations, promote airport bonuses, the fiscal advantages of the Canary Special Zone and share promotional material on the Canary Islands and the many marketing campaigns aimed at an end client who contributes to the increase in plane seat numbers to the islands. The amounts of the incentives are just the final step for airline companies who normally mull over a high number of different options.  

International awards

The efforts that have gone into air connections have been rewarded by the recognitions by the aeronautical industry itself and the awarding to the Canary Islands the two most important awards in terms of airline connections: the prize for the best European destination within the framework of Routes Europe 2017, and the best destination in the world in the capturing of new airline routes in the World Routes in 2017. Further still, the Canary Islands have once again been nominated as the top European destination for next year’s Routes Europe which is coming round again very soon, from 20th to 22nd April.