Canary Islands
The Canary Islands is a Spanish archipelago and the southernmost autonomous community of Spain located in the Atlantic Ocean, 100 kilometres west of Morocco at the closest point. The Canary Islands, which are known informally as the Canaries, are among the outermost regions of the European Union proper, it is one of the eight regions with special consideration of historical nationality recognized as such by the Spanish Government. The Canary Islands belong to the African Plate like the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the two on the African mainland; the seven main islands are Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. The archipelago includes much smaller islands and islets: La Graciosa, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Oeste and Roque del Este, it includes a series of adjacent roques. In ancient times, the island chain was referred to as "the Fortunate Isles"; the Canary Islands are the most southerly region of Spain and the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region.
The Canary Islands have been considered a bridge between four continents: Africa, North America, South America and Europe. The archipelago's beaches and important natural attractions Maspalomas in Gran Canaria and Teide National Park and Mount Teide in Tenerife, make it a major tourist destination with over 12 million visitors per year Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote; the islands have a subtropical climate, with moderately warm winters. The precipitation levels and the level of maritime moderation vary depending on location and elevation. Green areas as well as desert exist on the archipelago. Due to their location above the temperature inversion layer, the high mountains of these islands are ideal for astronomical observation. For this reason, two professional observatories, Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, have been built on the islands. In 1927, the Province of Canary Islands was split into two provinces; the autonomous community of the Canary Islands was established in 1982.
Its capital is shared by the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which in turn are the capitals of the provinces of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been the largest city in the Canaries since 1768, except for a brief period in the 1910s. Between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a decree ordered; the third largest city of the Canary Islands is San Cristóbal de La Laguna on Tenerife. This city is home to the Consejo Consultivo de Canarias, the supreme consultative body of the Canary Islands. During the time of the Spanish Empire, the Canaries were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to the Americas, which came south to catch the prevailing northeasterly trade winds; the name Islas Canarias is derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning "Islands of the Dogs", a name, applied only to Gran Canaria. According to the historian Pliny the Elder, the Mauretanian king Juba II named the island Canaria because it contained "vast multitudes of dogs of large size".
Alternatively, it is said that the original inhabitants of the island, used to worship dogs, mummified them and treated dogs as holy animals. The ancient Greeks knew about a people, living far to the west, who are the "dog-headed ones", who worshipped dogs on an island; some hypothesize that the Canary Islands dog-worship and the ancient Egyptian cult of the dog-headed god, Anubis are connected but there is no explanation given as to which one was first. Other theories speculate that the name comes from the Nukkari Berber tribe living in the Moroccan Atlas, named in Roman sources as Canarii, though Pliny again mentions the relation of this term with dogs; the connection to dogs is retained in their depiction on the islands' coat-of-arms. It is considered that the aborigines of Gran Canaria called themselves "Canarios", it is possible that after being conquered, this name was used in plural in Spanish, i.e. as to refer to all of the islands as the Canarii-as. What is certain is that the name of the islands does not derive from the canary bird.
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the archipelago. Gran Canaria, with 865,070 inhabitants, is both the Canary Islands' second most populous island, the third most populous one in Spain after Majorca; the island of Fuerteventura is the second largest in the archipelago and located 100 km from the African coast. The islands form the Macaronesia ecoregion with the Azores, Cape Verde and the Savage Isles; the Canary Islands is the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region. The archipelago consists of seven large and several smaller islands, all of which are volcanic in origin. According to the position of the islands with respect to the north-east trade winds, the climate can be mild and wet or dry. Several native species form laurisilva forests; as a consequence, the individual islands in the Canary archipelago tend to have distinct microclimates. Those islands such as El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera lying to the west of the archipelago have a climate, influenced by the m
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport known as London Gatwick, is a major international airport near Crawley in West Sussex, southeast England, 29.5 miles south of Central London. It is the second-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the United Kingdom, after Heathrow Airport. Gatwick is the eighth-busiest airport in Europe; until 2017, it was the busiest single-use runway airport in the world, covering a total area of 674 hectares. Gatwick opened as an aerodrome in the late 1920s; the airport has two terminals, the North Terminal and the South Terminal, which cover areas of 98,000 m2 and 160,000 m2 respectively. It operates as a single-runway airport. A secondary runway is available but, due to its proximity to the main runway, can only be used if, out of use. In 2018, 46.1 million passengers passed through the airport, a 1.1% increase compared with 2017. As of 2019, Gatwick is the second busiest airport in the world to only operate one runway with a passenger use of 46 million in 2018; the land on which Gatwick Airport stands was first developed as an aerodrome in the late 1920s.
The Air Ministry approved commercial flights from the site in 1933, the first terminal, "The Beehive", was built in 1935. Scheduled air services from the new terminal began the following year. Major development work at the airport took place during the 1950s; the airport buildings were designed by Yorke Rosenberg Mardall between 1955 and 1988. In the 1960s, British United Airways and Dan-Air were two of the largest British independent airlines at Gatwick, with the former establishing itself as the dominant scheduled operator at the airport as well as providing a significant number of the airport's non-scheduled services and the latter becoming its leading provider of inclusive tour charter services. Further rapid growth of charter flights at Gatwick was encouraged by the Ministry of Aviation, which instructed airlines to move regular charter flights from Heathrow. Following the takeover of BUA by Caledonian Airways at the beginning of the following decade, the resulting airline, British Caledonian, became Gatwick's dominant scheduled airline during the 1970s.
While continuing to dominate scheduled operations at Gatwick for most of the 1980s, BCal was one of the airport's major charter airlines until the end of the 1970s. As a result of conditions imposed by Britain's Monopolies and Mergers Commission on the takeover of BCal by the newly privatised British Airways at the end of the 1980s, Dan-Air and Air Europe assumed BCal's former role as Gatwick's dominant scheduled short-haul operator while BA continued in BCal's erstwhile role as the airport's most important scheduled long-haul operator. Following the demise of Air Europe and Dan-Air in the early 1990s, BA began building up Gatwick into a secondary hub; these moves resulted in BA becoming Gatwick's dominant airline by the turn of the millennium. BA's subsequent decision to de-hub Gatwick provided the space for EasyJet to establish its biggest base at the airport and to become its dominant airline. BAA Limited and its predecessors, BAA plc and the British Airports Authority and operated Gatwick from 1 April 1966 to 2 December 2009.
From 1978 to 2008, many flights to and from the United States used Gatwick because of restrictions on the use of Heathrow implemented in the Bermuda II agreement between the UK and the US. US Airways, Gatwick's last remaining US carrier, ended service from Gatwick on 30 March 2013; this left Gatwick without a scheduled US airline for the first time in 35 years. On 17 September 2008, BAA announced it would sell Gatwick after the Competition Commission published a report about BAA's market dominance in London and the South East. On 21 October 2009 it was announced that an agreement had been reached to sell Gatwick to a consortium led by Global Infrastructure Partners, who have a controlling interest in Edinburgh airport, for £1.51 billion. The sale was completed on 3 December. In February 2010, GIP sold minority stakes in the airport of 12% and 15% to the South Korean National Pension Service and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for £100 million and £125 million, respectively; the sales were part of GIP's strategy to syndicate the equity portion of the original acquisition by issuing bonds to refinance bank debt.
Although this entails bringing additional investors into the airport, GIP aims to retain management control. The Californian state pension fund CalPERS acquired a 12.7% stake in Gatwick Airport for about $155 million in June 2010. On 21 December 2010, the A$69 billion Future Fund, a sovereign wealth fund established by the Australian government in 2006, agreed to purchase a 17.2% stake in Gatwick Airport from GIP for £145 million. This transaction completed GIP's syndication process for the airport, reducing its stake to 42%; the airport is owned and operated by Gatwick Airport Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ivy Holdco Limited, owned by Global Infrastructure Partners, among others. In December 2018, Vinci announced that it would acquire 50.01% majority stake for £2.9bn, with GIP owning the remaining 49.9%. The sale is expected to be completed by the middle of 2019. On 31 May 2008, Virgin Holidays opened t
Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport is an international airport serving Dublin, the capital city of Ireland. It is operated by DAA; the airport is located 10 km north of Dublin in Fingal. In 2018, over 31.5 million passengers passed through the airport, making it the airport's busiest year on record. It is the 13th busiest airport in Europe, is the busiest of the Republic of Ireland's airports by total passenger traffic, it has the greatest traffic levels on the island of Ireland, followed by Belfast International Airport. The airport has an extensive short and medium haul network, served by an array of carriers, as well as a significant long-haul network focused on North America, the Middle East and East Asia, it serves as the headquarters of Ireland's flag carrier – Aer Lingus, regional airline Stobart Air, Europe's largest low-cost carrier – Ryanair, ASL Airlines Ireland, together with another two airlines, CityJet and Norwegian Air International. United States border preclearance services are available at the airport for U.
S.-bound passengers. Shannon Airport is the only other airport in Europe to offer this facility. In 1917, during World War I, the townland of Collinstown was selected as the site of a base for the British Royal Flying Corps. By April 1918, when the Flying Corps was renamed the Royal Air Force, Collinstown Aerodrome was more than 20% complete. Construction was completed in 1919. On 20 March 1919 a group of 30 Irish Volunteers, including five employed by the RAF, stole 75 rifles and 5,000 rounds of ammunition from the base; as Collinstown Camp the site was used for internment of Irish republicans. At the end of 1922 the land and buildings at Collinstown were transferred to the Irish Free State; the airfield fell into disrepair and grass grew on the former runways. In 1936 the Executive Council of the Irish Free State established a new civil airline, Aer Lingus, which began operating from the military aerodrome, Casement Aerodrome, at Baldonnel to the southwest of Dublin. A decision was made; the former Collinstown site, extended into the neighbouring townlands of Rock and Corballis, was chosen.
Work on the new airport began in 1937. By the end of 1939, a grass airfield surface, internal roads, car parks and electrical power and lighting were set up; the inaugural flight from Dublin took place on 19 January 1940 to Liverpool. In August 1938, work began on a new airport terminal building; the terminal building was designed by architect Desmond FitzGerald, brother of politician Garret FitzGerald. FitzGerald, who had designed an airport terminal as part of his college studies, led a team of architects that included Kevin Barry, Daithí Hanley, Charles Aliaga Kelly, Dermot O'Toole and Harry Robson; the terminal building opened in early 1941, with its design influenced by the tiered structure of the luxury ocean liners of the time. The terminal was awarded the Triennial Gold Medal of the Royal Hibernian Institute of Architects in 1942 and is today a listed building. Due to World War II, known as The Emergency in the Irish Free State, services were restricted at Dublin Airport until late 1945.
The only international scheduled routes operated during this time were by Aer Lingus to Liverpool. The end of the war meant the beginning of a major expansion in services at the airport. Aer Lingus resumed its London service to Croydon in November 1945. In 1947, KLM started the first European flights to Dublin with a service to Amsterdam. Three new concrete runways were completed in 1948, in 1950 - after ten years in operation - the airport had welcomed a total of 920,000 passengers. Throughout the 1950s Dublin Airport expanded with uninterrupted traffic growth. Runway extensions and terminal enhancements were carried out to deal with the influx of traffic and passengers. New airlines began serving the airport also; these included British European Airways, BKS. In 1958, a new transatlantic service was started by Aer Lingus via Shannon Airport. By the mid 1950s, it was clear that the original terminal building was too small to cope with growing passenger numbers. A new North Terminal was opened in June 1959.
The plan was that North Terminal would handle all US and European flights, but instead it became the arrivals terminal for all Dublin Airport passengers, while the original passenger terminal was used for departures. During the 1960s, the number of scheduled carriers continued to grow. By the close of the 1960s, a sizeable number of Boeing 737s, BAC One-Elevens, Boeing 707s and Hawker Siddeley Tridents were using the airport regularly. To cope with larger aircraft in the late 1960s new departure gate piers were added close to the old terminal to cope with larger aircraft; these piers would subsequently be connected to Terminal 1. During 1969, the airport handled 1,737,151 passengers; the advent of wide-body aircraft posed challenges for aviation. In 1971, Aer Lingus took delivery of two new Boeing 747 aircraft. To cope with this, a new £10 million passenger terminal capable of handling six million passengers per year, which became known as Terminal 1, was opened in June 1972; the growth, anticipated at Dublin's airport during the 1970s did not materialise immediately.
In 1983 Aer Lingus opened its'Aer Lingus Commuter' division which took delivery of Sho
Condor (airline)
Condor incorporated as Condor Flugdienst GmbH, is a German leisure airline based in Frankfurt. It operates scheduled flights to leisure destinations in the Mediterranean, Africa, North America, South America, the Caribbean, its main base is at Frankfurt Airport. Condor is Germany's second-largest commercial airline based on fleet size and passengers flown, it is headquartered at Gateway Gardens near Frankfurt Airport. It is a subsidiary of the British Thomas Cook Group, but still partners with its former parent Lufthansa through the use of the Lufthansa Group's Miles & More program, its business lounges at Frankfurt Airport, as interline partners; the company was founded on 21 December 1955 as Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH, its ownership being split between Norddeutscher Lloyd, Hamburg America Line, Deutsche Lufthansa, Deutsche Bundesbahn. The initial fleet of three 36-passenger Vickers VC.1 Viking aircraft was based at Frankfurt Airport, the Lufthansa hub. Scheduled flight operations were launched on 29 March 1956 with a pilgrimage flight to Israel.
Further destinations flown to during the first year were Tenerife. In 1959, Lufthansa took over 95.5 % of the stake. Most condor flight is Group of the Condor Germany. In 1961, Deutsche Flugdienst took over its rival Condor-Luftreederei, subsequently changing its name to Condor Flugdienst GmbH, thus reintroducing the "Condor" name with Lufthansa. In 1962, Condor Flugdienst transported about 32,000 passengers and had a market share of 63.3% in the German leisure air travel. In 1966, the longhaul business was launched, with flights to Thailand, Ceylon and the Dominican Republic. In 1971, Condor became the world's first leisure airline to add the Boeing 747 to its fleet. In 1973, the airline generated a revenue of 291 million DM, surpassing all other leisure airlines worldwide. At that time, the Condor fleet consisted of two Boeing 747-200s, two 707s, ten 727s. During this period, the Condor Individuell system was launched, allowing direct flight bookings by passengers without the need of a travel agency.
In 1989, SunExpress was founded as a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, aiming at leisure traffic between Germany and Turkey. Condor added Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 jets to its fleet, operated from the production workshop of Südflug, a 100% subsidiary of Condor. In 1991, as the first leisure carrier, Condor introduced a separate and more comfortable Comfort Class to its Boeing 767 long-haul fleet; the Südflug subsidiary was integrated into Condor in autumn 1992. In 1995, Condor expanded its shareholdings: Alpha Holding GmbH, Kreutzer Touristik GmbH, Fischer Reisen GmbH and Öger Tours GmbH, with 10%, became part of the Condor Tourism Group. Condor acquired Lufthansa’s 40% holding in the Turkish charter airline SunExpress, increased to 50%. In 1996, commemorating the 40th birthday of the airline, US painter James Rizzi created a special paint scheme, applied to one of Condor's Boeing 757s. With an order for 12 aircraft, the airline became the launch customer of the enlarged Boeing 757-300.
In 1998, Condor Flugdienst GmbH was owned by C&N Touristic AG. With the merger of Condor Flugdienst GmbH and NUR Touristic GmbH, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and KarstadtQuelle AG created the basis for an integrated tourism group with a European format – both partners have a 50% holding in the company. In 1998, Condor Berlin GmbH was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary with headquarters at Berlin Tegel Airport; as with all other German airlines, Condor was not allowed to operate into West Berlin until 1990. It used Airbus A320 aircraft, added to the fleet, replacing the Boeing 737 short-haul airliners. In the early 2000s, the Berlin business was moved to Schönefeld Airport. From 2000 onwards, the Condor shares held by Lufthansa were acquired by Thomas Cook; the process of transforming Condor from a Lufthansa subsidiary to a part of Thomas Cook (along with Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium and Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia began with the rebranding as Thomas Cook powered by Condor on 1 March 2003.
A new livery was introduced, featuring the Thomas Cook logo on the aircraft tail and the word "Condor" written in the font used by Thomas Cook Airlines. On 23 January 2004, Condor returned to the Condor brand name. By December 2006, the remaining Lufthansa shares only amounted to 24.9 percent, so that the last influence was lost. On 20 September 2007, shortly after having taken over LTU International, Air Berlin announced its intention to acquire Condor in a share swap deal, it was intended to buy the 75.1 percent of Condor shares held by Thomas Cook, with the remaining Lufthansa assets being acquired in 2010. In return, Thomas Cook would take up 29.99 percent of the Air Berlin stock. On 11 September 2008, the plan was abandoned. In December 2010, Thomas Cook Group chose the Airbus A320 family as preferred short-medium haul aircraft type for its airlines, with a review concerning the longhaul aircraft scheduled for 2011. On 17 September 2012, the airline signed a codeshare agreement with the Mexican low-cost carrier, Volaris.
On 12 March 2013, Condor a
Milan Malpensa Airport
Milan Malpensa Airport is the largest international airport in the Milan metropolitan area in northern Italy. It serves 15 million inhabitants in Lombardy and Liguria, as well as those living in the Swiss region of Canton Ticino; the airport is located 49 kilometres northwest of central Milan, next to the Ticino river. The airport has two runways as well as a dedicated cargo terminal. In 2017, Malpensa Airport handled 22,169,167 passengers and was the 26th busiest airport in Europe in terms of passengers and 2nd busiest airport in Italy in terms of passengers; until 2008, Malpensa Airport was a major hub for flag carrier Alitalia. Malpensa Airport remains the second-busiest Italian airport for international passenger traffic, the busiest for freight and cargo, handling over 500,000 tons of international freight annually; the first industrial airport was opened in 1909 near the Cascina Malpensa, an old farm, by Giovanni Agusta and Gianni Caproni to test their aircraft prototypes. This airport was opened for civil operation in 1948 during the war reconstruction period, in order to serve the northern area of Milan.
The site of today's Malpensa Airport has seen aviation activities for more than 100 years. The first began on 27 May 1910, when the Caproni brothers flew their "flying machine", the Cal biplane. In the years that followed, many aircraft prototypes took off from the same site. Both Gianni Caproni and Giovanni Agusta established factories on the new site. During the 1920s and 1930s, the airfield hosted two squadrons of the Regia Aeronautica Italiana. In September 1943, Malpensa airfield was taken over by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe when northern Italy was invaded by Adolf Hitler. Soon after their arrival, the Germans laid the airfield's first concrete runway. After the cessation of hostilities during the Second World War and politicians of the Milan and Varese regions, led by banker Benigno Ajroldi of Banca Alto Milanese, restored the airfield, they aimed to make it an industrial fulcrum for post-war recovery of Italy. The main runway damaged by German troops as they retreated from northern Italy, was rebuilt and extended to 1,800 metres.
A small wooden terminal was constructed to protect passengers from bad weather. Malpensa Airport commenced commercial operations on 21 November 1948 as Aeroporto Città di Busto Arsizio, although the Belgian national flag-carrier Sabena had started flying to Brussels from here a year earlier. On 2 February 1950 Trans World Airlines became the first company to fly long-haul flights from Malpensa, using Lockheed Constellations on their services to New York Idlewild Airport. A change of ownership occurred in 1952 when the Municipality of Milan took control of the airport's operator, the Società Aeroporto di Busto Arsizio; the operator's name was subsequently changed to Società Esercizi Aeroportuali SpA. After assuming full control, SEA decided to develop Malpensa as an international and intercontinental gateway, whereas Milan's other airport, Linate Airport, would be tasked with handling only domestic services. Between 1958 and 1962 a new terminal arrived at Malpensa and the airport's two parallel runways were extended to 3,915 m, becoming the longest in Europe at that time.
By the early 1960s, major European carriers such as British Airways, Air France and Alitalia had moved the majority of their services to Linate Airport, just 11 km east of Milan's city centre, making it much easier for passengers to reach central Milan. This left Malpensa with just a handful of intercontinental links, charter flights and cargo operations. Malpensa suffered a decline in commercial traffic, with passenger numbers dropping from 525,000 in 1960 to just 331,000 by 1965, it was destined to play second fiddle to Linate Airport for another 20 years. By the mid-1980s Linate Airport was handling seven million passengers per year and, with only a short single runway and limited parking slots, had reached its saturation point. With no available land nearby for expansion, an alternative solution was sought: Societa Esercizi Aeroportuali SpA found that developing Malpensa was the only practical alternative. By the end of 1985, a law had been passed by the Italian Parliament that paved the way for the reorganisation of the Milan airport system.
Malpensa was designated as the centre for all services covering northern Italy, while Linate Airport was downgraded to a domestic and short-haul facility. "Malpensa 2000", as the plan was called, included the construction of a new terminal as well as the development of fast, efficient connections to Milan's city centre. The European Union recognised this project as one of the 14 "Essential to the Development of the Union" and provided €200 million to help finance the work. Construction started in November 1990. During the night of 24/25 October 1998 Alitalia moved the majority of its fleet from Rome Fiumicino Airport – where it had been flying from for over 50 years – to Malpensa Airport; the airport started a new lease of life as the Italian flag-carrier's main hub. Alitalia added up to 488 movements and 42,000 passengers a day at the facility which, by the end of 1998, had handled 5.92 million passengers. In 1999 it recorded a spectacular leap to 16.97 million and, by 2007, passenger numbers had reached 23.9 million.
Efficient rail links from two different stations in Milan (Centrale and Cadorna st
Iberia (airline)
Iberia incorporated as Iberia, Líneas Aéreas de España, S. A. Operadora, Sociedad Unipersonal, is the flag carrier airline of Spain, founded in 1927. Based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from its main base of Madrid-Barajas Airport. Iberia, with Iberia Regional and with Iberia Express, is a part of Iberia Group. In addition to transporting passengers and freight, Iberia Group carries out related activities, such as aircraft maintenance, handling in airports, IT systems and in-flight catering. Iberia Group airlines fly to over 109 destinations in 39 countries, a further 90 destinations through code-sharing agreements with other airlines. On 8 April 2010, it was confirmed that British Airways and Iberia had signed an agreement to merge, making the combined operation the third largest commercial airline in the world by revenue. Shareholders of both carriers approved the deal on 29 November 2010; the newly merged company, known as International Airlines Group, was established in January 2011, although both airlines continue to operate under their current names.
Iberia, Compañía Aérea de Transportes was incorporated on 28 June 1927 with a capital investment by the financier Horacio Echevarrieta and Deutsche Luft Hansa of 1.1 million pesetas. Flight operations started on 14 December 1927. Within a year, the company was sponsored by the Spanish government to provide postal transport between Madrid and Barcelona. During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, the aviation companies in Spain were combined and became state-controlled as a general interest public utility, coming into effect in early 1928; as a consequence, Iberia was merged into Compañía de Líneas Aéreas Subvencionadas S. A. and ceased activities as an independent airline on 29 May 1929. The name "Iberia" continued to be registered although the company airline did not have a fleet or commercial operation under his own brand. In 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, Spanish Navy captain and Director-General of the company Daniel de Araoz y Aréjula received the order from General Kindelán to organize an airline for the air transport in nationalist-held territory during the course of the war.
Daniel de Araoz y Aréjula traveled to Germany to get support and material for the restoration of the company as independent airline, thus six Junkers Ju 52 from Deutsche Luft Hansa arrived, which were acquired by Iberia at the end of the conflict, in addition to material to help the operations. As the name "Iberia" was still registered, it was used when operations began in 1937 towards the end of the war. During the conflict Iberia was a purely domestic airline, with headquarters in Salamanca the airline operated flights to cities in the nationalist side, Spanish North Africa, Spanish West Africa and Morocco. After the war, at the end of the 1930s, the airline served the Seville–Larache–Cabo Juby–Las Palmas, Barcelona–Saragosa–Burgos–Salamanca–Seville–Tetuan and Palma–Barcelona–Vitoria runs using Junkers Ju 52 aircraft. On 1 May 1939 Iberia operated its first regular service to an international destination as an independent civil airline with a flight Madrid-Lisbon. In 1940 the government gave the monopoly of national air transport to Iberia, this privilege helped the company to start building as an important international airline, which had not been until then.
The airline was nationalised on 30 September 1944 and became part of Instituto Nacional de Industria. The policy of the company was to separate itself from the German orbit to which it had been linked in its first years, establish relations with the United States in terms of aircraft purchase and supplies of aeronautical material for the operation, thus that year was signed the purchase of seven DC-3, three DC-4 with the purpose of expand the network in Europe and accomplish with the main challenge of his director César Gómez de Lucía, perform the first transatlantic flight of the company. The challenge was achieved in 1946, Iberia was the first airline to fly between Europe and South America after World War II, using a Douglas DC-4 to operate flights between Madrid and Buenos Aires; this flight was the first of an expansion of flights between Latin America and Europe through Spain carry out by the company, with destinations like San Juan de Puerto Rico, Ciudad de México and La Habana. The bad diplomatic relations of the francoist regime delayed some destinations until the beginning of the 50s.
Iberia incorporated four more DC-4s to its fleet during the first half of 1950, enabling both the strengthening of current services and the launch of new ones. By the Pact of Madrid in 1953, visa requirements were eliminated for US visitors to Spain; this stimulated the start of transatlantic flights between Spain and United States the following year. The airline phased in the first of three Super Constellations in June 1954; the aircraft was named Santa María to commemorate Columbus' first voyage and was deployed in the inauguration of the new Madrid–New York service two months on 3 August 1954, the same day that Columbus left the port of Palos de la Frontera. The amendments to Article 6 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation of June 14, 1954 made in Paris on June 30, 1956 about non-scheduled air services enabled mass tourism using chartered aircraft since allowing European member states to carry out this type of operation with international flights between their territories; this favored the airline given that it had in its territory several sought after destinations those on the eastern and southern Mediterranean coast and in the Balearic and Canary Islands demanded by seasid
Air Europa
Air Europa Líneas Aéreas, S. A. U. is an airline in the third largest after Iberia and Vueling. The airline is headquartered in the Polígono Son Noguera in the Centro Empresarial Globalia in Llucmajor, Spain; the airline is 100% owned by Globalia, a travel and tourism company managed by Juan José Hidalgo. Since September 2007 the airline has been a member of the Skyteam alliance. Air Europa started in 1986 as part of the British ILG-Air Europe Group and 75% owned by Spanish banks, it had a similar livery to Air Europe but with Air Europa titles and its aircraft were registered in Spain. It flew holiday charters from Mediterranean resorts and European cities using Boeing 737-300s and Boeing 757s, it was the first Spanish private company. When parent company ILG ceased trading in 1991 Air Europa continued profitably with a larger fleet of Boeing 737s and 757s, it signed a franchise agreement with Iberia in January 1998. It is now owned by Globalia Corporación Empresarial S. A. At the end of the 1990s Boeing 737-800 jets were introduced along with a new livery.
In June 2005 it was announced Air Europa was among four future associate members of the SkyTeam alliance, due to join by 2006. However, the joining date was postponed, it did not become a member until 1 September 2007. Air Europa was the parent company for Air Dominicana, the new flag carrier of the Dominican Republic, until bankruptcy was declared on 21 September 2009. Air Europa retired its last Boeing 767 on 13 April 2012. Air Europa operates tour services between northern and western Europe and holiday resorts in the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands, it operates domestic scheduled services and long-haul scheduled services to North America and South America. Its main base is Palma de Mallorca Palma de Mallorca. During the last ten years, scheduled flights have increased their share of operations; as of November 2016, Air Europa has codeshare agreements with the following airlines: As of May 2018, the Air Europa fleet consists of the following aircraft: Air Europa operated the following aircraft: List of airlines of Spain Transport in Spain Air Europe Air Europe Media related to Air Europa at Wikimedia Commons Official website Official mobile website
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Media related to Tenerife South Airport at Wikimedia Commons
