Volotea launches flights between Malaga and Madrid five times a week following Urda accident

Until now, only Iberia and Air Europa have been operating flights between Malaga Airport and Barajas. Despite the additional services both Iberia and Air Europa have announced, there is still a shortage of seats due to the suspension of the high-speed rail network.

For this reason, Volotea has scheduled five flights a week from Malaga Airport to Madrid Airport: on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Furthermore, it has confirmed that, from December, it will be boosting both routes by adding an extra flight on Thursdays for Seville and on Sundays for Malaga.

"These connections intend to facilitate travel for passengers affected by the disruption to high-speed rail services between Madrid and Andalucía, following the serious accident that occurred on 28 October in the town of Urda," Volotea sources said.

The airline has already made these flights available for booking on its website, at a maximum price per journey of 75 euros for the basic fare and 99 euros for a cabin bag weighing up to ten kilos.

As for the route between Seville and Madrid, Volotea's scheduled service will initially operate up to four flights a week: on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Iberia is introducing further additional services and increasing the capacity of its flights to Andalucía by 93 per cent from this Friday until next Sunday, 8 November, in response to the rise in demand. In total, there will be 20,718 additional seats.

By route, flights between Madrid and Seville will have 10,734 more seats, while those between Madrid and Malaga will have 9,984 more. Both airlines plan to operate 98 extra flights; 78 of these will be operated by Iberia, while Iberia Express has scheduled 20 additional flights that were not planned prior to the accident.

The national carrier points out that, from this past Wednesday until 8 November, it will have operated 140 direct flights from Madrid to Malaga and Seville, offering a total of 49,786 seats. The airline has announced that it is continuing work on adding further flights from Monday, 9 November.

Ahead of the long weekend starting on 1 November, Iberia would like to remind passengers that it is offering 1,760 extra seats and will be operating eight additional flights: two return flights to Malaga and two return flights to Seville. In addition, it has scheduled higher-capacity aircraft on six other existing flights.

"During the Halloween long weekend, Iberia will make 7,642 extra seats available to its customers, 90 per cent more than originally planned. Specifically, 4,204 more on the Madrid-Seville route and 3,428 on the Madrid-Malaga route," Iberia explained.

The airline has capped prices at 99 euros for the economy class and 149 for the business class.

The announcement of this extraordinary operation comes at a time when airfares to Madrid have skyrocketed due to high demand, which has prompted complaints from travel agencies and consumer organisations.

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