The constant works in the Mediterranean Corridor to convert it into a railway adapted to modern times are leaving free way for airlines to fill their planes with passengers who long ago opted for the train. The latest to join the conquest of the market between coastal cities has been Air Nostrum, which has announced an increase in frequencies from Valencia to Barcelona and Malaga, taking advantage of the poor rail connection that exists from the city of Turia to both destinations. The three cities are connected by high speed, but to get to any of them it is necessary to go through Madrid.
The Iberia subsidiary assures that this operation was pending expansion before Covid and that it is now recovering after registering high passenger demand, especially in the business segment. “We consider that they are putting value in going and returning to Barcelona within the day,” they explain from Air Nostrum. The Valencia-Barcelona route, which already had 7 frequencies a week, will now have 9 from now on, with a first flight at 7:30 a.m. and a return flight at 7:00 p.m. The one in Malaga grows from 16 to 22 weekly flights.
Fewer trains and longer journeys on Renfe
The transformation works of the entire Mediterranean arc to adapt it to European standards are causing serious disruptions in the routes that today only Renfe provides between Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante, given that the execution of the corridor to Andalusia is still under construction . . Journey times have increased significantly between Barcelona and Valencia, so that trains now take, on average, about 20 minutes longer than years ago.
Added to this is a significant cut in frequencies by Renfe, which has eliminated up to a third of the trains that circulate on the most in-demand section of the corridor, the Barcelona-Valencia. This reduction in supply has meant that, instead of having a train practically every hour between both cities, there has been a shift to stretches of up to three consecutive hours without connection between the second and third most populated cities in Spain. Also affected is the fact that the first train arriving in Barcelona arrives later than 10 in the morning, scaring away business travelers.
Sources from the sector consulted by this medium assure that Renfe is operating in Valencia with six fewer frequencies than in 2019, to which we would have to add many others in the opposite direction: three Euromed services have disappeared, another on weekends, a daily Talgo and two more reinforcements on Fridays and Saturdays. Added to this is the absence of reinforcements on specific dates that were provided before the pandemic, or that certain services are being provided with material in a single composition, when before they were done in double, and therefore, with double the number of places. . .
All of this reprogramming leads to the conclusion that, today, Renfe would be transporting 75% of the travelers it carried before the pandemic. But curiously, this would not affect their accounts in the Mediterranean Corridor, which so far this year until August have continued to hold up their billing figures. The public operator has managed to maintain the same income per passenger as in 2019 despite having a quarter fewer passengers, something that can only be explained with an increase in ticket prices.
Airline passengers grow 15% in four years
Manises is one of the airports that has grown the most after the pandemic, as a result of the great economic and business dynamism experienced by the Valencian capital and its surroundings. Until August, it registered 25% more passengers than last year and 15% more than in 2019, despite the fact that operations have grown by 12% and 5%, respectively, which translates into fuller planes.
Ryanair was one of the first to observe the possibilities of Valencia and in 2021, with normal mobility restored after the pandemic, it added new routes to Malaga to its flight offer, which now operates with five weekly flights in each direction, and Seville, with six. . Also from Alicante it will fly to Seville three times a week this winter, although it will reduce frequency compared to what it has operated this summer.
Another company that maintains extensive operations in the Mediterranean Corridor is Vueling. It operates five direct Alicante-Barcelona flights every day (four on weekends), another five Valencia-Seville, two Valencia-Barcelona and two Valencia-Málaga. It also runs four Granada-Barcelona flights a day, although on that route the train does not aspire to compete with the plane.
The effects on the large coastal railway line not only affect the coast, but also the routes to the interior of the peninsula, allowing airlines to take over niches where the train should, a priori, be more competitive. Proof of this is that Vueling continues to operate two daily routes to Madrid and Seville from Castellón, despite the fact that it has direct AVEs to the capital and that its airfield is very far from its potential users. The situation does not seem to change until 2026, when the Corridor will complete some of its main works and will be able to operate more normally.