The Spanish airline LEVEL will launch operations to Mexico with flights between Barcelona and Cancun from July 2, with a foray that seeks to take advantage of the potential that exists between both countries, as flight restrictions begin to be lifted in Europe.
The operation of the airline, which is part of the European conglomerate IAG, will have a weekly frequency with A330-200 equipment, and will be the third destination of the company in Latin America, which also flies to Buenos Aires, in Argentina, and Santiago, in Chile, says Lucía Adrover, LEVEL’s commercial director.
“The market and customers want to travel. Before, this was conditional on mobility restrictions, but since June 7 non-European passengers can enter Spain, which will give a boost to Mexicans also deciding to visit Barcelona, ”he explains in an interview.
Until before the pandemic, Spain was the strongest European market for tourism in Mexico. With 1.2 million passengers transported in 2019, it came from an annual growth of 16.4%, which plummeted more than 70% during 2020. Until last April, traffic between the two countries was still less than a third of the 2019 levels , according to figures from the Ministry of Communications and Transportation.
Even, due to the health contingency, some key destinations, such as Barcelona, were stopped operating. But the airline – which also flies to New York, Boston and San Francisco outside of Spain – considers that it can enter to compete in this market by taking advantage of its low-cost model.
“The reason we were born was to connect Barcelona with the world, to bring distant destinations closer to competitive prices. Our value proposition is to have the capacity to offer and give options on how people want to fly and what services they will decide to hire ”, affirms the directive.
The airline does not share passenger traffic projections because it is a public company, and it does limit itself to saying that it is focused on this route without confirming other destinations within Mexico for the moment.
Flights between Spain and Mexico remain led by Iberia –also part of IAG– and Aeroméxico, which together account for three-quarters of air traffic.
