2023-06-06 17:28:58
France adopted weeks ago the decision to eliminate those domestic flights that have an alternative high-speed train of less than two and a half hours. A policy that is more cosmetic than practical – only one flight has been eliminated from the Parisian Orly airport – and which, if Spain continues, would cause significant economic inefficiencies for the country. This is at least the estimate of the report “Short-haul flights in Spain”, prepared by the consulting firm PwC for Iberia, which states that a decision in this regard would have important economic and connectivity implications for the country.
The analysis ensures that these flights are essential for connectivity within Spain and also abroad, as well as contributing significantly to the creation of wealth and employment in our country. According to the study, for every million passengers who use these flights, 102 million euros of GDP and 1,852 full-time jobs are generated.
In addition to their contribution to growth, the role of short-haul flights is currently irreplaceable in Spain, according to Iberia. Beatriz Guillén, director of Global Sales of the airline, has stressed that “Until there is a true intermodality that allows an efficient connection of airports with high speed, it is impossible to replace short-haul flights with train trips. Without domestic flights, it is not possible to meet the demand of the millions of travelers who need to connect with their medium or long-haul flights”, he explained.
To carry out its study, PwC has studied the five Iberia routes that have a rail alternative of approximately two and a half hours travel time: Madrid-Barcelona, Madrid-Málaga, Madrid-Valencia, Madrid-Alicante and Madrid-Seville. The development of high-speed rail on these five routes has implied a loss of air quota and a reduction in flight frequencies. Travelers have substituted the plane for the high-speed train for those uses in which it is a satisfactory alternative, mainly point-to-point. Between 2007 and 2019, the number of passengers who traveled by plane on the five routes studied decreased by more than half, from from 8.97 to 4.06 million. Iberia has maintained, mainly, the frequencies that allow the transfer of passengers who have to take planes to undertake long-haul trips. Between 2003 and 2022, the number of frequencies has been reduced by an average of 64% on the five routes studied. However, the study concludes that short-haul flights continue to be essential to transfer passengers to the Madrid-Barajas “hub” from where Iberia and other airlines connect Spain with international destinations, especially with Latin America and the United States.
The consulting firm PwC calculates that for every million passengers traveling on a domestic flight in Spain, 102 million euros are generated for the Spanish economy: 40.4 million from aviation-related sectors and 61.6 million from tourism. and complementary activities. In addition, that million passengers generate 182 full-time jobs: 626 in sectors linked to aviation and 1,226 in tourism and complementary sectors.
The PwC study also includes how, according to specialized studies, a 10% increase in the supply of airplane seats increases a 4.7% foreign direct investment, 2.5% exports, 4% tourism and 4% also the number of headquarters of large companies in the area of influence of the airport.
According to the analysis, only the five routes studied contributed 329 million euros to Spanish GDP in 2022: 130 million from the aviation sector and 199 million from complementary sectors such as hotels, restaurants or leisure. In addition, these five routes generated 5,980 full-time jobs in 2022: 2,021 in the aviation sector and 3,959 in complementary sectors.
emissions
In addition to significant economic damage, the document states that “a hypothetical elimination of these routes it would reduce the national and international connectivity of the peripheral areas of Spain and would increase the risk of passenger migration to other international airportswhich would weaken the Madrid-Barajas hub in favor of others such as Paris or Frankfurt”. This, according to the consultant, would also increase environmental risks and carbon leakage, since it would mean more kilometers per flight and more CO2 because, for example, a hypothetical flight from Málaga to Bogotá, instead of making a stopover in Madrid, would do so in Paris, which would mean a longer trip and more emissions.
Before raising the possibility of replacing short-haul flights with high-speed rail travel, PwC believes that it would be necessary to design and deploy an efficient intermodality that allows guaranteeing connectivity for medium and long-haul passengers. In 2022 around 4 million passengers took short-haul routes that arrive at the Madrid-Barajas airport from the cities of Barcelona, Alicante, Malaga, Seville or Valencia. More than half of them used these routes to connect with other flights, mostly medium and long-haul international flights. In order to assume that volume of travelers, it would be necessary to bring a minimum of eight to ten high-speed lines every hour, coinciding with the flight departure and arrival windows. Both Iberia and PwC believe that it is a scenario from which Spain is still a long way off -the first trains will not reach the T-4 until at least 2024 or 2025, but with few frequencies-, but which could be approached with the appropriate investments, even more so, having the privileged tool of the Next Generation funds.
For the airline and the consultancy, the environmental reason for suppressing these routes does not hold up either. As they have reiterated, CO2 emissions from the domestic air sector account for less than 1% of total emissions in Spain. Aviation, as recalled by the corporate director of Iberia, Juan Cierco, has been reducing them in recent years thanks to investments in technologies that improve the efficiency of operations, as well as the undoubted commitment to renewing the fleet that reduces, in the short-haul fleet, between 15 and 20% emissions. More than suppressing these flights, Cierco believes that Spain should make a firm commitment to both biofuels (SAF) and intermodality, taking advantage of the opportunity offered by European funds. Something for which, according to Cierco, a firm commitment must be made in a country that depends as much on tourism and aviation as Spain.
It is also true, as the director of the airline has assured, that although the Government has addressed consultations to the sector regarding the suppression of these flights, it is not something that, according to what they say, is on the table.
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