The name Barceló is mostly known for leisure travel. The Spanish tourism group, founded in 1931, not only owns 230 hotels in 22 countries, but also 700 travel agency offices on four continents. More than 30,000 people work for it and generate a turnover of more than four billion euros.
Two airlines are part of Barceló Group. Spanish Evelop Airlines and its Portuguese subsidiary Orbest mainly operate charter flights from Madrid, Lisbon and Porto to Cancun, Havana and Punta Cana as well as Mallorca and Menorca. In recent years they have also expanded their direct sales.
Flights to Latin America
But now Evelop and Orbest want to expand beyond their charter services. «We have started to restructure our airlines in Spain and Portugal in order to offer scheduled services in addition to charter services in the near future», said Barceló manager Vicente Fenollar, according to travel news site Preferente. To increase capacity, Evelop recently put an A350 into service and Orbest an A330 Neo.
In a first step, the airlines have planned flights mainly to Latin America. They will therefore compete with Iberia, Plus Ultra, Wamos Air and Tap. But the ailing Air Europa is also coming under additional pressure.
Hotel competitor also wants its own airline
Evelop's current fleet consists of one Airbus A320, one A330-200, three A330-300 and two A350-900, while Orbest's consists of one Airbus A330-300 and the new A330-900 Neo.
