The communications consultancy is consolidating its presence in the Latin American market, where it is already found in Brazil, Peru and Colombia.

The opening of an office in Santiago de Chile is part of the internationalization strategy of the Catalan communications consultancy Inforpress ato consolidate its presence in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets. "We are convinced that the communication strategies of large firms will be marked by language rather than by geographic boundaries. We are working more and more on global communication plans for Latin America that require us to have a presence in the major hubs and it is clear that Chile is one of the most important, "said Nuria Vilanova, president of the company.

Among the keys to this strategy in general, and settling in Chile in particular, we find the so-called "bandwagon effect." According to Vilanova, "it is necessary to be there to support our customers in the Iberian Peninsula", although expectations in Chile do not stop there. "Although we have just arrived, large Chilean companies are showing great interest in our services. They value, for example, our network in Latin America and are interested in strategies that are succeeding in other markets."

Therefore, the simultaneous presence in several enclaves makes  access to clients from local markets easy. However, it is necessary to differentiate. Inforpress opts for an integrated model of communication: "We propose a concept of synergistic communication strategies which integrates external communication – with consumers, authorities, media, analysts and investors – with internal communication – with employees. Thus, the results grow exponentially, "said Vilanova.

Even though each country is a market with its own characteristics and particularities, there are common recommendations to all of them, especially in the field of human resources. "In all countries we incorporate local talent, professionals who know their markets well. In Chile we have tried to choose the best. Our intention is always to build rich, diversified, multidisciplinary teams. In fact, Inforpress, overall, has a staff of 205 professionals that includes lawyers, journalists, economists, political scientists and even mathematicians, "said Vilanova.

Source: icex.es; 2014-09-04

Posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee
promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights

The Spanish company Outstock Belts, specialized in manufacturing fashion accessories, is undergoing a process of internationalization as demonstrated by its growth strategy in the international market with the opening of a subsidiary in China.

The company has announced that at the end of the year it will launch a commercial office in the Chinese city of Shanghai, right in the financial centre of China. Outstock Belts also intends to open in Bangladesh and India and has set the goal of closing 2014 with a turnover of 18 million euros, double that obtained in 2013. Outstock Belts has been in the fashion industry for over 30 years: belts, fabrics, appliques, fasteners and accessories are, amongst others, the products offered by this family business.

Amongst the client base of Outstock Belts are renowned brands such as Inditex, Mango, Cortefiel, Promod and Carrefour. The Chinese market is not an unknown market for Outstock Belts. The company, which started manufacturing from Barcelona, decided to move part of its production to local Chinese factories ​​in 2003. The company, which has forty employees in Spain, plans to increase its number of employees in Shanghai. The company obtains 30% of its revenue from international markets.

Source: globalasia.com; 2014-09-05

Posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee
promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights

At the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, they will open nine routes to Berlin, Bucharest, Bratislava, Bremen, Cologne, Eindhoven, Fez, Vilnius and Warsaw; in addition to the increase in frequencies to 13 other destinations. These new services will enable a million new customers to be transported up to five million annually, and maintain 5,000 jobs, since according to the ACI (InternationalAirports Council) report, for every million passengers 1,000 jobs are generated at international airports .

Thus, the low cost airline will operate 338 weekly flights, up 40%, on 40 routes at the Madrid airport.

At Barcelona-El Prat Airport, they will begin to fly to Cologne, as well as increasing their frequencies to nine other destinations, so they will operate 364 weekly flights, up 7%, on 39 routes. The new services will enable 300,000 new users to be transported to reach 5.1 million customers a year, and keep supporting the corresponding 5,100 jobs at El Prat airport.

Cumulative data highlight an increase of 12.52% in solid bulk, amounting to 48 million tonnes  Freight traffic in Spanish ports has had seven months of growth.

The latest data published by the State Ports show an increased activity of 4.38% until the seventh month of the year, to stand at 274.73 million tonnes carried. In the month of July alone, the various enclaves moved 40.86 million tonnes compared to 39.1 million in the same period last year.

By port authority, the port of Algeciras exceded 56.75 million tons of total traffic through July (10.59%), followed by Valencia with 38.8 million (0.06%) and Barcelona, which underwent 8.1% growth to 27.14 million tonnes.

By type, the data accumulated until the seventh month of the year reveal an increase in bulk solids 12.52%, exceeding 48 million tons. The trend was also positive for liquid bulk which stood at 91.2 million tonnes, representing an increase of 3.57% compared to 2013. In this sense, the ports that experienced the greatest movements of this kind of merchandise were Algeciras and Cartagena, who endured an increase of 13.84% and 5.52%, respectively. General merchandise, meanwhile, with 127.83 million tonnes, increased by 4.50%.

As far as goods in transit is concerned, the figures show an increase in activity of 3.54% through July, with 66.46 million tonnes, that is 2.2 million tonnes more than in the same period in 2013. Although more lightly, containerized goods in transit managed to close in positive, with 0.93%growth. Likewise, the data released by the public body reflect an upward trend in the number of containers carried which with an increase of 2.87%, totaled 8.2 million TEUs.

Finally, Ro-Ro traffic increased activity by 6.54% to 28.6 million tonnes, while container traffic for imports and exports, however, fell by 4% to stand at 2.8 million TEUs.

Source: elvigia.com; 2014-09-13

Posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee

Emirates, a global connector and facilitator of vital trade links, today adds Frankfurt to its growing list of A380 destinations. With the addition of Frankfurt, Emirates now serves 30 global destinations with the A380.

"Deploying larger capacity aircraft like the A380 is fundamental to helping us meet growing passenger demand between this dynamic economic region and the evolving economies of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, through efficient connections via our Dubai hub. The positive effects of more inbound tourism from the Middle East, Gulf and Asia Pacific regions into Frankfurt will also be demonstrated with the arrival of the A380, based on our experience when we introduced the aircraft to Munich," continued Antinori.

Emirates' growing A380 network means travellers from Frankfurt wishing to visit destinations such asMauritius, Mumbai, Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai or Sydney,now have the chance to experience a seamless Emirates A380 experience connecting through Dubai.

The 519 seat A380 deployed on the Frankfurt to Dubai route offers 14 Private Suites in First Class, 76 full-flat bed seats in Business Class and 429 seats in Economy Class. Flight EK45 leaves Dubai at 0825hrs and lands at Frankfurt Airport at 1315hrs. The return flight EK46 departs Frankfurt at 1520hrs and arrives back at Concourse A, the home of the Emirates A380 and the world's first purpose-built facility for the aircraft at Dubai International Airport at 2335hrs.

With 51 A380s in its fleet, Emirates is the largest operator of the Airbus superjumbo, carrying over 28 million passengers across the globe on this iconic aircraft since 2008.

So far in 2014, Emirates has introduced A380 services to Barcelona, London, Zurich, Kuwait, Mumbai and Frankfurt. It will soon launch A380 services to Dallas Fort Worth on 1 October, San Francisco on 1 December and Houston on 3 December.

Spain's Barcelona-El Prat Airport stated  Aug-2014 was the busiest month in the airport's history with passenger numbers exceeding 4.2 million, an increase of 8.6% year-on-year. The airport also recorded its busiest single day traffic on 17-Aug-2014 with 147,888 passengers travelling through the airport. Cargo volumen increased 3.3% to 7200 tons and aircraft movements increased 5.3% to 28,964.

The consistent growth track of Barcelona shows its strength in the international arena, and places it as one of the most attractive destination for new long haul services.

The Port Authority of Barcelona increased its rail container traffic between January and July.  Specifically, traffic grew by 11%, resulting in a movement of 95,522 TEUs. Of the total containers transported by rail for the first seven months of the year, 48,940 TEUs, up 12% on the same period last year, arrived by sea and were loaded at the port to leave by train for various inland market destinations, mainly the Iberian Peninsula and France. Moreover, a total of 46,582 TEUs, representing a 10% rise through July 2013, also arrived at the port by rail for shipment to foreign markets.

Currently, the rail share of the port of Barcelona is now at 11% of all containerized foreign trade that is channelled through the port. That is, 11% of import and export containers pass through the Catalan enclave, entering or leaving the port by rail. In 2006, the rail share was 2.5%.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has granted the airline Vueling traffic rights to operate four weekly flights between Spain and Cameroon, another four between Spain and Ghana, as well as a weekly frequency between Spain and Equatorial Guinea.

The airline has not yet officially confirmed the launch of the routes, should they finally decide to operate any of them. In the case of Ghana and Equatorial Guinea, Iberia already operates these routes, so it would be competing in these markets but from its hub in Barcelona. However, only a few European cities such as Paris, Brussels and Zurich, maintain connections with Cameroon, which would mean for the airline  competing in a market that is underserved for the time being.

The distance of these flights approaches the limit or range of the A320 family of Airbus aircraft, which Vueling would operate these routes with, so it would remain to be seen how the airline would be able to make these flights viable, operationally speaking.

Moreover, Vueling has obtained seven additional frequencies between Spain and Algeria. The airline already operates between Barcelona and Algiers (4x/week),
Barcelona and Oran (2x/week) as well as between Alicante and Oran (2x/week).

One of the new frequencies has already been dedicated to expanding the route between Alicante and Oran with a third weekly frequency, while the other six could be dedicated to expanding frequencies on existing routes from Barcelona.

Without dismissing the launch of new routes, as could be the ones that would join Alicante and Algiers (to compete with Air Algérie), between Palma and Algiers, which would also compete with the Algerian airline, and even between Valencia and Algiers, a captive market since the Algerian airline cannot operate this route because it is not covered by the bilateral treaty between the two countries.

With this further expansion in the African market, Vueling continues to consolidate itself as the European low-cost airline, with the greatest penetration in the African market and the widest medium haul network.

Source: aeroestads.org; 2014-09-15

Posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee
promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights

Talks between All Nippon Airways and Skymark Airlines could result in Japan’s largest airline investing in Skymark, a 1998 start-up that carved a successful middle-market niche but now finds itself owing Airbus somewhere around USD1 billion for its Jul-2014 cancellation of a misguided order for six A380s.

Under the proposal, ANA would take Skymark's A380s and deploy them in the domestic Japanese market in a high-density configuration. Skymark would retain its own brand and operation, so the cooperation would extend beyond simple codesharing but stop short of a merger, which for various reasons is out of the question. ANA has similar but smaller partnerships with two other domestic carriers, Air Do and StarFlyer.

Airbus is understood to be backing the proposal as it wants to see its contract fulfilled, aware it could potentially put Skymark out of business over reparations for the A380. The manufacturer is understandably sensitive about criticisms of the A380 and keen to maintain the recently forged presence in the Japanese market. The Japanese government too would be likely to support a solution that keeps Skymark in Japanese hands.

The largest issue is that ANA and Skymark would need to agree on a price for a partial investment, made difficult as Skymark's stock plunged after the A380 cancellation. On this accounting ANA could gain a substantial position in Japan’s profitable domestic market for the price of one or two widebody aircraft. Relations between ANA and Skymark remain cool, and Skymark's mercurial leader would want to try to retain as much independence as possible. ANA and Skymark would also have to decide if Skymark will target the low-cost or full-service market, but either way ANA could potentially learn about running a more efficient airline. Otherwise however synergies may prove limited; ANA could enhance its domestic market share, especially at Tokyo Haneda airport, but with few benefits beyond that.

Source: centreforaviation.com;2014-09-05

Posted by flytobarcelona.org

Barcelona Air Route Development Committee
promotes Barcelona Airport intercontinental flights

The new shuttle bus which links the regions of Terres de l'Ebre (Tarragona) to Barcelona Airport without going through the Catalan capital recorded a total of 3,239 passengers this summer, as reported by the Ministry of Planning and Sustainability Wednesday in a press release.

This service, operated by Hife, became operational on July 1 and ended on August 31, with eight daily outward trips and eight return trips from the regions of Baix Ebre and Montsiā, and three outward and return trips from the regions of Terra Alta and Ribera d'Ebre.

The bus served populations on the line of Alcanar, Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Amposta, L'Aldea, Tortosa, Batea, Gandesa, Corbera d'Ebre, Móra d'Ebre, Tivissa, Vandellòs and L'Hospitalet de l'Infant.