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The travel exhibition Fitur terminated in Madrid on January 29th. According to travel operators who visited the exhibition the possibility of air traffic growth to the continental Spain was actively discussed behind the scenes of the exhibition. Experts say that last year there were 15 charters from Moscow to Barcelona. The situation regarding the number of charters is not clear at the moment but experts do not doubt the increase of flights.
‘Many operators are planning to cooperate with Transaero. According to the contract tour operators must fill the considerable number of seats. If the air carrier extends the aircraft fleet, travel market players will have to book more blocks’, experts say. The forecast seem to be realistic as Transaero plans to increase the number of Boeings – 747 from three to five, stated Sergey Bikhala, PR Director of Transaero.
As a result, many tickets will be off ration in spite of growth in demand for Spain. ‘In such a situation for travel companies it is more reasonable not to book big blocks but to buy tickets from the airline company on request. It will remind the situation with Thailand at the beginning of December, when a week tour cost $289 with the ticket price $580’, commented Vladimir Vorobiev, President of Natalie Tours.
The outcome is still to be seen. It might result in the last season situation when tour-operating companies had to co-operate to fill flights. ‘Tour operators consolidated flights, thus reducing the number of seats. If it repeats I am sure we will cope all together’, said Andrey Shmelkov, Development Director of VKO Travel.
