Distribución y Revenue Management

🛫 Omio ranked the best-connected airports based on transfer time, cost, and frequency. Nice, Sofia, and Warsaw have the fastest and cheapest public transport links, under 2 euros. Bilbao's airport is the best in Spain, 10th overall, with an 18-minute bus ride to the city at 3 euros. Valencia (25th) offers a 34-minute trip at 4.80 euros. Málaga (21st) provides a 32-minute ride at 1.80 euros, while Barcelona-El Prat (12th) and Madrid-Barajas (14th) have public transport costs of 4.90 euros and 2.60 euros, respectively. The average single trip on public transport costs 5.58 euros. Reykjavik's airport ranked worst, with a 70-minute taxi ride costing 135 euros.

✈ Level, an airline from IAG group, now offers additional tourism services such as hotel bookings and car rentals via Booking on its website. After separating from Iberia in December, services are available in cities like Barcelona, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, and destinations in connection with Vueling and Iberia. Ancillary Manager Jacobo Gómez-Ballesteros aims to enhance customer experience. From March 30, San Francisco will join Level's summer destination network.

🛫 Aena's president, Maurici Lucena, criticized Ryanair for disrespectful behavior towards Spanish Minister Pablo Bustinduy, calling for reflection on their conduct. Despite acknowledging Ryanair's sector contributions, he noted institutional discord and expressed readiness to mend ties if Ryanair adjusts its stance. Aena reported a profit of €1.934 billion and revenue of €5.828 billion, improving from the previous year's €1.630 billion profit and €5.540 billion revenue. Ramón Tremosa is set to join Aena as an independent advisor.

🏨 Beroni, specialized in travel agency technologies, and Quadrant Travel Technology by Pangea, announce a collaboration for Quadrant Travel Cloud bookings integration into Beroni's management software with over 2,700 national licenses. The partnership enables agencies funded by Next Gen European Funds to self-invoice through Beroni's Front Office system, streamlining operations and billing processes. Currently, over 80% of tourism services in reservations are loaded automatically, and most records are cloud-based. The agreement follows successful reservation capture processes, integration tests, and production testing in vacation and business travel. Quadrant Travel Cloud, a 100% digital marketplace for travel agency operations, centralizes an agency's ecosystem, including bookings, payments, data analytics, and marketing strategies. Beroni CEO Josep Bellés aims to integrate Front Office with multiple booking platforms, enhancing travel agents' efficiency. Quadrant CCO Juan Font Valle highlights the deal's alignment with their platform's modular approach, enabling agency-specific tool customization.

🏖 Imserso's social tourism program faced complaints from retirees about the lack of available spots since its start on September 23. A new digital tool on Turismosocial.com now allows real-time availability checks for its three modalities, using a color code system: green for available slots, blue for waitlist, and red for sold out. Highest availability is found in Catalonia and Valencia, with some spots in Andalusia or Murcia, while Baleares or Canarias only offer waitlist options.

📌 Jon Arriaga, president of Dit Gestión, affirms that despite Volotea's delicate economic situation, associated agencies continue to sell its flights, citing the airline's good performance in the low-cost segment. In 2024, Dit Gestión experienced growth in sales and consolidation, against economic challenges. Their number of associated agencies has increased moderately, with a significant boost in the Portuguese market. Pre-COVID levels of advance bookings have returned, even surpassing 2023, with many travel packages for Summer and Easter already closed. Spanish citizens are increasingly resorting to deferred payment systems and loans for travel. Despite a precarious economy, Dit Gestión anticipates another strong year of sales for agencies in 2025, although with concerns over low profit margins for travel agents.

✈ EasyJet plans to offer over 3.6 million seats for flights to and from Spain for the winter 2025/26 season, a 23% increase from the 2.8 million seats in 2024/25. The airline will expand from 15,000 to approximately 20,000 flights, adding five new routes, including four to the Canary Islands and one from Barcelona. New connections include Lanzarote to Birmingham and London Southend, Gran Canaria to Liverpool and Milan Linate, and a Barcelona to London Southend route starting October 26-27 and November 1, respectively. Globally, EasyJet will have 39.2 million seats available for the winter period, with tickets on sale for travel between December 15, 2025, and March 22, 2026.

🏖️ In 2024, Spanish travelers spent 18% at physical travel agencies, with many clients over 65, as per Braintrust. Ángel García Butragueño, Tourism Director at Braintrust, suggests agencies should become "travel creators" to capture the remaining 83% of the market. Elena García Donoso, fear management expert, emphasized understanding travelers’ motivations. Innovative models like Alberto Mendiola's telework-based Wamaw Travel, founded in 2022, save costs and invest in technology. Javier Urrutia, after 18 years at VECI, founded Noland Travel, focusing on specialized, tailor-made trips. Anna Villà continues her family's traditional agency, Villà Viatges, modernized with technology. Chema Gómez, CEO of Grupo Evento, plans a 10-year project for his team to take ownership, providing company longevity without generational succession.

💰 Booking Holdings achieved a net profit of $5.882 billion in 2024, a 37% increase over the previous year, surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time. Almost 60% of the group's revenue now comes from 'Merchant revenues'. Net profits for 2022, 2023, and 2024 were $3.058 billion, $4.289 billion, and $5.882 billion respectively. Merchant revenue contribution to annual accounts rose from 42% in 2022 to 59.5% in 2024. CEO Glenn Fogel plans to harness artificial intelligence to improve traveler experiences. Booking Holdings may face a €413 million fine by Spain's CNMC, for which it accounted a loss of €486 million in 2023 and adjusted €72 million (down to €78 million) by June 30, 2024.

🏆 IAG's CEO Luis Gallego to announce outstanding 2024 economic results, surpassing rivals, on the upcoming Friday. Sales climbed by 8% to €31.7 billion, with profits rising 15% to €4.1 billion. Investors anticipate insights on Summer 2025, amidst concerns over cost surges and changes in consumer behavior noted by Tui and Jet2. London expects British Airways and Iberia to have performed well. Concerns exist over BA's loyalty system changes but remain minor compared to the group's overall success.