Lanzarote Living

Lanzarote´s tourist industry has been boosted by the recent annoucement from Ryanair that they will be operating 15 new services to the island from October onwards.  As the carrier takes advantage of tax concessions created by the Spanish airport authority AENA, who will be waiving airport landing fees and charges until the end of March 2010.

Ryanair has recently come under fire for cutting back their Stanstead operations by 30%. Blaming high tax levies.  But their commitment to Lanzarote and the rest of the Canary Islands could also be short lived.  As it appears dependent upon a continuation of the tax break beyond March end.

Either way in the meantime at least this may help to generate much needed additional arrivals.  As Lanzarote struggles with an 18% half year drop in tourist numbers.  With the low cost flight specialists offering some discounted deals to mark the beginning of the service in the autumn.

The new Ryanair flights to Lanzarote will be available from Birmingham, Bristol, Bournemouth, Luton, East Midlands, Liverpool and Prestwick airports.  And comes hard on the heels of other recent announcements that also spell positive news for anyone dependent on island tourism, such as the many overseas owners of villas in Lanzarote.

easyJet recently announced a new service from Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Commencing November and with headline price starting from as little as £29.99 one way.  Utilising Airbus A230 planes that can carry a maximum capacity of 174 passengers.

According to Carly Brear, easyJet´s UK Commercial Manager: “This route comes as a direct commitment of ours to continue to enhance our destinations at Liverpool to meet customer demand. I have every faith these two routes will be extremely popular with our loyal North West customer base. I look forward to continuing to build on our strong relationship with both Fuerteventura and Lanzarote to boost tourism to these islands.”

Elsewhere, Ryanair´s keen rival Aer Lingus also recently announced new services to Lanzarote from their base at Gatwick in south east England.  Starting from October 10th with tickets on sale from £49.99 one way.

Last but not least TUI, owners of Thomsons and First Choice will also be scheduling a new service for the summer season of 2010 to the island from Robin Hood Sheffield/Doncaster airport.