| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
MADRID : Spain is considering changing commercial airline routes to make them shorter and more direct in order to offset high fuel prices, Public Works minister Magdalena Alvarez said Saturday.
Alvarez said she would ask the defence ministry to alter airspace currently reserved for military use in order to make this possible.
"If the problem is the rise in fuel prices, the best measure to support airlines is to study how to reduce fuel consumption," the minister told reporters in the southern port of Malaga.
Shorter routes would reduce flying time and allow for airlines to use their planes and crews on more flights each day in addition to cutting fuel costs, the ministry added in a statement.
Airlines around the world are struggling with the impact of rising fuel costs.
Spanair, Spain's second-largest airline, 100-percent owned by Scandinavian operator SAS, said Wednesday it is cutting about a quarter of its workforce as well as nine loss-making routes.
Last week Vueling and Clickair, two loss-making low-cost Spanish carriers, announced plans for a merger.
The number of flights between Madrid and Barcelona, Spain's second-largest city, fell by 14.2 percent in the first half of 2008 as against the corresponding period in 2007 due to the inauguration of a high-speed rail service between the two cities in February, airport authority AENA said earlier Saturday.
Traffic through Spain's airports increased by 2.8 percent on the same comparison, it added.
Spain's air carriers association AECA on Thursday urged the government to come up with a package of "urgent and quick" measures to help the sector and ensure that other airlines do not follow Spanair's example.
- AFP /ls
|
