Spain exported € 214,4 billion worth of merchandise in 2011, a 15.4% increase over 2010. As a result, the trade deficit fell 11.4% to € 46.3 billion with a decline in the non-energy deficit of 64% and an increase in the energy deficit of 18.9%.

Imports were up 9.6% in 2011 to € 260.8 billion while the rate of export/import coverage was 82.2%, 4.2 points higher than in 2010.

In 2011 the trade balance with the European Union registered a €4.05 billion surplus compared to a €4.19 deficit in 2010. The trade balance with the Euro Zone, also positive, reached € 1.66 billion.

Sales to the Americas continue to grow strong, with a 22.1% increase in exports to North America and 20.2% to Latin America.

 

Source: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.

 

The American multinational Tech Data, one of the world’s leading logistic and ICT product suppliers, has now set up an International Operations Centre in the Zona Franca near the Port of Barcelona, which will be taking on 400 employees during a two year period.

The Catalan subsidiary will provide service for all Tech Data’s European offices, in which the firm is market leader. By the end of the year it is planned that there will be some 100 people working at the centre, with the figure scheduled to rise steadily to 400 employees by the end of the coming year.

The Barcelona operation aims to reach sales of €3 million the current year. Among the services being managed from Barcelona will be those of billing, deliveries and payments, purchasing, management of software licences, logistics control and the creation of a software factory. In the future it is also planned to run financial and cash management services from the centre.

The project has been provided with support from Invest in Catalonia, the trade promotion and inward investment attraction agency of the Catalan Department of Industry and the location of the new site for Catalonia was chosen after fierce competition from possible alternatives in the UK and Poland.

Tech Data has a combined workforce of 4,200 in Europe and a turnover of €11 billion for sales on the continent.

 

Source: Invest in Catalonia

 

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.

 

Catalonia was clearly the place to visit for foreign tourists to Spain in 2011, with nearly 14 million visitors to the territory from overseas, almost 5% up on the previous year. This figure represented approximately one quarter (24.3%) of all visitor numbers to Spain.

Moreover, Catalonia broke its own record for revenue from overseas tourism, with a total of €11.3 billion notched up, some 8% more than the year before.

All in all, Catalonia welcomed a total of 23.5 million visitors, including domestic tourists, those from the rest of Spain and abroad, which represents a 5.7% year on year rise.

 

Source: La Vanguardia

 

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.

 

 

Congress delegates attending the Mobile World Congress to be held in Barcelona from February 27 to March 1 will fill the hotels and apartments in the city next week.

The Barcelona Hotel Association has reserved 22,000 rooms at prices agreed for the official agency of the congress, the highest since the event has been held in Barcelona (2006).

The entity expects full occupancy in hotels in the capital for the first three days of the fair, and 80% on Thursday and Friday. Apartments, with an average price of 66 euros per person per night, expect 92% occupancy during the congress, although bookings arrive later as an alternative to fully-booked hotels.

Apartments, usually occupied by family tourism, are pleased at the supplement MWC executives confer at this low season time, some of whom take this opportunity to visit the city with their family.

MWC 2012 expects to attract over 60,000 congress delegates and bring the city an economic impact of 275 million euros.

Source: Hosteltur

 

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.

According to the Spanish Wine Market Observatory (OEmV), Spanish wine exports reached record amounts in 2011, up 26.3% to 2.23 billion liters. This was due to the growth in bulk wine (+43.2%) and to a lesser extent, wines with a protected D.O. (+18.3%).  Revenue from exports amounted to € 2.24 billion, 16.7% more than the previous year.

By category, bulk wines without a protected denomination of origin were up 43.2% in volume to 1.16 billion liters, and 52.9% in value, to € 386.7 million. Bottled wines with a D.O. registered an 18.3% increase in volume to 313 million liters, and 15.8% in value (to € 925.6 million). Sales of sparkling wine and Cava were up 16.2% in volume to 157.5 million liters, and 8.9% in value, reaching € 392.3 million; and bottled wines without a D.O. got a foothold on their recovery with a 12% lead in volume and 9.6% lead in value.

The 10 main foreign export markets in terms of value showed positive growth. Wines with a D.O., including still wines, Cava and fortified wines like those from Jerez and Montilla-Moriles etc., saw particularly good growth in North America (U.S. Canada and Mexico) and several European countries including Germany and Great Britain.

The main markets for exports of bulk wine were France (+ 35%), followed by Germany (+33%). However, the growth seen in exports to Italy (+183%) is due, according to the Observatory, to that country´s short harvest. Also of note were exports of Spanish bulk wine to Russia (+54.5%) and China (+37.5%).

 

Source: US Spain Business

 

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.

 

The project brings together 7 million square metres of "smart land" aiming to promote the knowledge economy.

From 6th-8th March, Barcelona Catalonia will be present at Cannes' MIPIM real estate fair for professionals, where it will be showcasing the main investment opportunities on offer in the Metropolitan Area for the starting up and growing of knowledge, creativity and innovation-related companies.

As well as having a stand at this international event, Barcelona will be taking part in a round table with the OECD Goldman Sachs and the Financial Times, alongside the cities of Manchester, Amsterdam, Lyon and Hamburg, while Barcelona City Council's Deputy Mayor for the Urban Habitat, Antoni Vives, will be giving the talk "The Spanish real state market in 2012: time to act". 

Over 7 million square metres of land aiming to promote the knowledge economy

Promoting "smart land" for the development of new projects related to the knowledge economy and raising the profile of Barcelona and Catalonia as innovation hubs. These are the aims behind the launch of the Barcelona Catalonia project, which has been put in place by Barcelona City Council and the Catalan Land Institute.

The initiative focuses on the Barcelona Metropolitan Area which stands out for its potential for growth and investment, namely 7 million square metres of land set aside for use by innovative, excellence-based companies.

These take on the shape of specialised science and technology projects in key economic sectors including biotechnology, energy, ICT, pharmaceuticals and healthcare products, nanotechnology, the media, logistics and aerospace, which are geared around highly powerful knowledge and mobility infrastructures. 

Notable examples in existence today include the Alba Synchrotron Park, the most important research infrastructure in south-west Europe; the 22@ Barcelona innovation district, which is already home to innovative companies such as Yahoo!  R&D, Microsoft, Sage, Schneider Electric, Telefónica R&D and Indra; the Mas Blau Business Park, a facility located on the site of the airport; and the Ripollet Park, a next-generation business park for the industrial and logistics sectors.

Other infrastructures set to be opened soon include La Sagrera station, which will link up with the European high-speed railway network, and the Smart City Campus, which will bring together companies from this forward looking sector.

 

Source: Barcelona City Council

 

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.

 

The city, which is currently chairing the Innpulso network, has been invited to work jointly with 47 Spanish municipalities to boost growth and quality employment.

The Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness has invited Barcelona City Council and the other Spanish municipalities in the Innpulso network to sign a protocol of accession to the State Innovation Strategy (E2I). 
Through joint work, this project aims to place Spain in 9th position in the world innovation ranking, and thus contribute to changing the current production model and boost growth and quality employment.

The initiative includes measures such as innovative public purchase and the attraction of talent, proposals in line with the priorities for economic reactivation established in the framework of the Barcelona Creixement Round Table.

A network that promotes innovation in local authorities

The Innpulso network, launched by the General Secretary of Innovation of the Ministry of Economy, is made up of 47 Spanish municipalities and is aimed at recognising and encouraging innovative and scientific actions carried out by local authorities and promoting collaboration between them. 

After receiving the distinction of City of Science and Innovation 2011, Barcelona is currently presiding this network.

 

Source: Barcelona City Council

 

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.

 

Admittedly or not, it is clear that most of the big name LCCs today have adopted some level of connection potential to their networks. It is too significant a revenue stream to be ignored, and implementing a such system - specially internationally - is quite easy. Just schedule the majority of your westbound flights to operate during one half of the day and the eastbound flights during the other half. And you've easily got a basic connectivity potential.

This emerging trend is rapidly closing the ever minimizing gap between full service and low cost carriers.

The connectivity certainly increases the revenue potential for any LCC - and not going to a large scale connectivity oriented hub structure means that they could still keep the costs low. Technological improvements have added the ability of booking connectivity pairs to most reservation systems. The end result is that not only has the connectivy business become more lucrative, but quite easy to implement too.

The lower prices of a LCC connection makes it a better option to the price-conscious traveler; even if there is an extra step of booking two city pairs seperately.

This has opened more chances for those LCCs wishing to move upmarket, and the higher yields will only make that choice more attractive to many. The hybrid-ization of the LCC is not going to stop anytime soon. And the gap between the LCC and the FSC is fast closing.

 

Source: Flightglobal.com

 

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.

 

Barcelona generates 38% of Spanish exports by air, but only 14% of Spanish air cargo passes through its airport

Barcelona is the origin of 38% of air Spanish exports, but its airport receives only 14% of air traffic in the state. Barcelona has a clear opportunity to increase its air cargo, especially on Asian routes, which represent 45% of Spanish traffic. These are some of the details of the latest edition of the Barcelona Air Traffic Observatory, produced quarterly by GPA (Gestió i Promoció Aeroportuària S.A.) a company owned by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, which was presented to the Barcelona-Catalonia Logistics Centre (BCL) Air Cargo Committee at the workshop held on Tuesday 28 February.

To increase traffic, the BCL Air Cargo Committee proposes, among other actions, that Barcelona Airport captures traffic from the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, which is poorly served at present. The airport has a great potential to become a logistics hub for air cargo: the current growth of the southern regions of France; the situation of Barcelona at the intersection of  the Mediterranean and Ebro corridors; its proximity to the Port of Barcelona; and the role of Catalonia as first region in exports in Spain (26% of total exports). The long-haul air routes from Barcelona created in recent years have helped improve access to new markets and logistic hubs directly, but there is still much room for further increasing cargo in Barcelona.

In Spain, 670,000 tons were transported by air freight in 2011. The market is concentrated in 4 major airports: Madrid (59%), Barcelona (14%), Zaragoza (7%) and Vitoria (5%). The main markets for Spanish exports are Asia - Pacific (28%), South America (24%) and North America (20%).

Barcelona transported 100,000 tons in the hold during the last year, a decrease of 7.4% over 2010. However, considering the cargo truck (cargo that counts as air freight but which travels by road, generally short distances - up to 1,000km), air freight in Barcelona rose 9% in 2011. The effect seen is an increase in freight transported by cargo truck at the expense of hold cargo. The main destination airports for air exports out of Barcelona are American, Asian and the Middle East. Barcelona does not have direct passenger or cargo flights to most of its Asian destinations.

In 2011 Barcelona increased its total traffic (due to export growth), but there was a transfer from pure cargo flights (aircraft that only carry goods) to passenger aircraft, and, especially, to cargo trucks. Therefore, Barcelona is acting as a feeder to other cargo airports.

 

The air freight mode
Air freight is a specialist transport sector (0.1% of the global burden) that exploits the time factor (speed) to obtain a niche in the logistics industry. Around 50 million tons of cargo is transported by plane all over the world every year. The air freight mode includes both cargo transported in the hold of aircraft, and cargo trucks.

Europe represents 19% of air freight in the world. It is a highly concentrated market, where the major airports (Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and Heathrow) carry 45% of the total cargo. Barcelona is 27th in the European air ranking.

 

Air Cargo Committee

These data were presented yesterday to the BCL Air Cargo Committee led by GPA (Gestió i Promoció Aeroportuària S.A.), a company belonging to the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. The committee’s workshop brought together over 30 representatives of companies and organizations involved in air cargo in Barcelona. The activities of this task force link with the efforts of the Barcelona Air Route Development Committee (BARDC) in developing long-haul routes out of Barcelona Airport.

The Air Cargo Committee approved a draft proposal of the Commercial Action Plan to improve air cargo in Barcelona. This plan is to be based on a systematic analysis of data available concerning air cargo, to detect points to improve local services and opportunities for creating new air cargo links, which will position Barcelona Airport as a benchmark centre for Southern Europe.

 

Source: BCL and Barcelona Chamber of Commerce

 

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global traffic results for January showing a 5.7% rise in passenger demand but an 8.0% decline in air freight compared to the same month in 2011. The occurrence of Chinese New Year in January (rather than in February as in 2011) exaggerated the increase in passenger demand and the fall in air freight. Stripping this out, the underlying trend was for stronger passenger growth, while stabilized weakness in cargo markets continues.

“The year started with some hopeful news on business confidence. It appears that freight markets have stabilized, albeit at weak levels. And this is having a positive impact on business-related travel. However, airlines face two big risks: rising oil prices and Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. Both are hanging over the industry’s fortunes like the sword of Damocles,” said IATA’s Director General and CEO Tony Tyler.

 

International Passenger Markets

International air travel rose 5.5% in January year over year, while capacity climbed 4.2%, resulting in a load factor of 76.6%, up from 75.7% in January 2011.

Asia-Pacific airlines saw their traffic rise 6% in January compared to 2011. Capacity climbed 6.4% and load factor dipped slightly to 77.5%. Year on year traffic growth would have been softer were it not for the Chinese New Year boost.

European carriers experienced a 5.3% gain in traffic versus January 2011. The persisting economic weakness of the region resulted in a considerable drop from the 9.5% growth recorded in December despite the attractiveness of the weak Euro to tourist traffic and export activity. The average load factor strengthened to 75.7% on a 2.7% rise in capacity year over year; however, the load factor is among the lowest of the continents.

North American airlines had a 0.3% dip in passenger traffic, but capacity dropped 0.9%, pushing load factor up fractionally to 77.6%. Next to African carriers, the passenger demand was the weakest performance.

Middle East airlines recorded double-digit traffic growth in January, posting a 14.5% increase. This was by far the largest rate of growth for any region and represents a return to the rates experienced in 2010. Capacity rose 10.6%. Load factor climbed 2.7 points to 78.5%, among the highest of the regions.

Latin American carriers continued to enjoy robust passenger demand. Traffic rose 7.9% in January compared to the same month last year, while capacity increased 7.4%. At 79.9%, the region’s carriers had the strongest load factor.

African airlines reported a 3.6% decline in demand and a 0.8% decline in capacity, with a load factor of 64.8%, the lowest load factor among the regions. Although sub-Saharan economies are showing strong economic growth, African airlines are finding it difficult to capitalize on the trend.

 

Domestic Passenger Markets

Domestic markets outperformed international markets in aggregate as strong demand in Brazil, China and India helped to push domestic traffic up 6.1% compared to January 2011.

The impact of Chinese New Year-related traffic was evidenced in China’s domestic market, which surged 16.8% year over year on a 14.3% lift in capacity, pushing load factor to 80.8%, the highest recorded for domestic traffic. On a seasonally adjusted basis, traffic rose 3.2% compared to December. The Chinese market now accounts for more than 21% of the total global domestic market.

US January domestic traffic was nearly flat at 0.2%, but capacity contracted 1.5%, pushing load factor to 78.1%.

Japan’s traffic was 8.9% below previous year levels, slightly more than the 8.3% contraction in capacity. Year to year comparisons are affected by the impact of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami as well as industry restructuring.

Brazil’s airlines saw a 10.5% rise in demand while capacity climbed 14.8%.  Load factor was 74.9%, down 2.9 points from January 2011.

India traffic rose 8.8% year over year, while capacity expanded 12.8% and load factor was 74.9%. Demand rose 0.9% compared to December.

 

Air Freight (Domestic and International)

The decline in air freight markets ended in the 2011 fourth quarter.  The January contraction largely was owing to the Chinese New Year and resulted in international demand falling 8.1% while domestic markets dropped 7%. 

Asia-Pacific and European airlines bore the brunt of the international decline, down 14% and 9.6% respectively compared to January 2011. In addition to the impact of the holiday, the peripheral economies in Europe have been in recession and attracting little inbound freight. Until recently this had been offset by strong outbound traffic flows from Northern European economies. 

Middle Eastern carriers enjoyed a 9.4% rise in demand, the healthiest performance among the regions. North American airlines’ demand dropped 4.0%. Latin American carriers’ traffic climbed 2.2% while African carriers saw a 3.7% decline compared to the year-ago period.

 

Source: IATA press release

 

posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights.