Binter takes off for Madrid with its Canary Islands way of flying
The airline Binter has today inaugurated its flights between the Canary Islands and Madrid with which it intends to provide this important air corridor with the islands with a differential quality service and guarantee competition.
- 16 daily flights between the Canary Islands and Madrid
- Flying in Canary Islands mode
- Binter Sells
- Autohandling
- Maintenance station
The first flights took off from Tenerife Norte Ciudad de La Laguna (TFN) and Gran Canaria (LPA) airports at 08:00 hours today for Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD), landing there at 11:40 hours. From the capital's airport, the first flights left at 07:00 hours for Gran Canaria and at 08:00 hours for Tenerife. From today, the airline will operate 112 weekly connections to the capital.
Present at the departure of the inaugural flight from Tenerife North Airport were the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo; the Vice-President, Manuel Domínguez; the sub-delegate of the Government, Javier Plata; the President of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila; and the Airport Director, Francisco Javier Osman. On behalf of Binter, the president, Rodolfo Núñez, and the director, Juan Ramsden, attended.
The inauguration of the flight from Gran Canaria was attended by the president of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, Astrid Pérez; the sub-delegate of the Government, Teresa Mayans; the Minister of Education, Poli Suárez; the Minister of Tourism, Jessica de León; the airport director, Julio Mosquera; the former Minister of Public Works, Sebastián Franquis, and, on behalf of the airline, the general coordinator, Santiago Guerra, and the Minister Ana Suárez, together with the Director of Communications, Noelia Curbelo.
On arrival in Madrid, a presentation was held at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, which was attended by the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, the President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, the Director General of Tourism and Hospitality of the Community of Madrid, Luis Martín Izquierdo, and the President of Binter, Rodolfo Núñez.
Nuñez said that reaching Madrid, which is the link between the Canary Islands and Spain and the rest of the world, "was a dream that today has become a reality". In this sense, he thanked "the more than 2,000 workers who form part of the company, the drive of its customers and the support of the financial institutions for making it possible".
Izquierdo stressed that this new Madrid-Canary Islands route "will further boost tourism and continue to stimulate economic activity, investment and employment, both in Madrid and the Canary Islands".
Torres described this day as historic, "just as the responsibility with which Binter acted during the pandemic was historic, maintaining services to guarantee connectivity and the transfer of health personnel between islands", he said, while considering that "it was an excellent example of public-private collaboration".
The Minister also highlighted the Spanish Government's commitment to island connectivity and the resident's discount, and expressed his satisfaction, saying that "Binter is from the Canary Islands, and this is a great good fortune for the Canary Islanders".
The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, pointed out the importance of mobility for people living on the islands and highlighted Binter's commitment to the Canary Islands. "Now, a citizen of El Hierro can leave his island in the morning and be in Madrid in the afternoon," he said, giving an example to the people of El Hierro because of the island's difficulties in terms of connectivity.
Clavijo assured that, whenever Binter has been needed, the airline has always been there. Finally, he highlighted the joint work between the regional government and the airline to improve the connectivity of the archipelago.
At Madrid airport, the ribbon cutting ceremony was held for the flight that left at 12:30 pm for Gran Canaria, in the presence of the airport's director, Mario Otero. The company's Commercial and Marketing Director, Miguel Ángel Suárez, and the manager of the operator Binter Airlines, David Manzanas, were present, accompanied by Drago Handling staff and the flight crew.
16 daily flights between the Canary Islands and Madrid
Binter today began operating a total of 16 flights a day, 112 a week, between the airports of Tenerife Norte (TFN) and Gran Canaria (LPA) and Madrid (MAD). From the Tenerife airport, flights will depart at 08:00, 11:00, 15:30 and 20:30, while in the opposite direction, flights will depart from Adolfo Suárez-Madrid Barajas airport terminal T-2 at 08:00, 12:30, 17:00 and 20:00. Departures from Gran Canaria are scheduled at 08:00, 10:00, 15:30 and 20:30, while in the opposite direction they will depart from T2 at 7:00, 12:30, 17:00 and 20:00.
In addition, it maintains one of its most striking and interesting distinguishing features on these routes: it provides connections with the rest of the airports in the Canary Islands at no additional cost, thanks to the 210 flights it makes every day on average within the archipelago.
Flying in Canary Islands mode
In addition to the wide range of flights and seats that the airline has programmed, there is also its premium in-flight service for all fares, which allows passengers to travel in Canary Island mode in comfort, enjoying distinctive comforts during the flight, such as the wide space between rows, the configuration of rows with two seats, a complimentary gourmet menu, entertainment service with the latest news at no extra cost, as well as hand luggage in the cabin included in all fares.
Binter Sells
The company has opened the first Binter Vende airport office outside the Canary Islands, located on the top floor (Departures) of Terminal 2 of Adolfo Suárez - Madrid Barajas Airport, near the north access gate and the company's check-in desks. The opening hours will be extensive (from 5:30 to 21:30 hours), to attend to all the airline's operations, 365 days a year.
With this new office, Binter intends to offer in Madrid the same quality service as it provides in its sales offices in all the airports in the Canary Islands, favouring a personal and personalised customer service during the purchase process; guiding and advising the customer on the fare, product or service; and providing support at the airport itself, when necessary, to manage changes, contract new services or purchase the airline's merchandising products.
Autohandling
The handling service will be carried out through Drago Handling, which is incorporated into the Canary Islands airline's system, made up of 17 companies specialised in services related to each of the branches of the airline sector to offer a comprehensive service.
Binter has created this company, which will provide assistance, ramp handling and operations services exclusively to Binter flights and passengers with Madrid, in order to guarantee the standards of quality in service and attention to passengers that are characteristic of the airline and its Canarian way of flying.
The Drago Handling team, made up of 75 professionals, has already received the necessary training to operate with a modern fleet of sustainable and efficient motorised ramp equipment.
It should be remembered that Binter has been investing for years in more modern and sustainable ground handling equipment and incorporating electric equipment where possible, and that Atlántica de Handling, a company in the system that provides handling services to the company at Canary Island airports, was the first company in the sector to comply with Aena's requirements to reduce its carbon footprint.
Maintenance station
Another of the decisions taken by Binter to strengthen its operations in Madrid is the opening of an online aircraft maintenance station which will be managed by another of the companies in the Binter system: Servicios Aerotécnicos Insulares (SATI).
In this way, it will be possible to provide a better service to Binter's fleet of Embraer E195-E2s, servicing the aircraft based at the capital's airport. It will also enable a faster service to be provided to those aircraft that have incidents within the peninsular territory, as the location of the Madrid station will reduce response times in the event that maintenance of these aircraft is required at any of the airports where the airline operates.
This facility will initially be staffed by 25 people including engineers, maintenance technicians and material managers, with the plan to gradually increase the number of personnel to a team of 40.
