Tag: Barcelona (Page 1 of 3)

Solaris wins new hydrogen bus contracts in Barcelona and Essen

February 2, 2024 / WIL BALDWIN

The CAF Group company has consolidated its leading position in the thriving hydrogen city bus market with two new contracts for the supply of 57 vehicles for a combined value of over 40 million Euros for Barcelona, Spain and Essen, Germany. Solaris’ experience in rolling out hydrogen technology has seen 40 operators in 10 European countries already place their trust in the company, having won orders for in excess of 700 vehicles.

Supported by the ongoing development of the hydrogen vehicle market and the increasing orders for hydrogen fuel cell-powered buses, Solaris has intensified its business activity in this segment over the recent months. In fact, in connection with this technology, last year Solaris made a major investment constructing a new building exclusively to manufacture hydrogen-powered buses.

Solaris’ substantial backlog, which includes supplies to various operators in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Slovakia, illustrates the current relevance of this market. While 99 hydrogen buses were registered in Europe in 2022, pending official data for 2023, at the end of the third quarter of the year a total of 137 new bus registrations had already been made in Europe, representing a 38% increase compared to the 12 months in the previous year. If we add the data for the last 3 months of 2023, the figures would undoubtedly reveal how strongly this sector has grown and how much Solaris has contributed to this situation. Just a few years ago, specifically in 2018, not one single hydrogen bus was registered in Europe.

Maersk launches rail offering from Barcelona, Spain to Southern France

October 8, 2023 / WIL BALDWIN

Barcelona, Spain – AP Moeller-Maersk AS (OTC: AMKBY) is launching a new rail product from the Port of Barcelona to Southern France especially designed to cut transit times of ocean cargo destined to the areas Toulouse, Bordeaux and Lyon by using Barcelona as an alternative gateway. Starting early November there will be three weekly direct block trains between Barcelona and Toulouse as well as one weekly connection between Barcelona and Lyon. Via Toulouse the solution also connects cargo to Bordeaux seamlessly by using a partner network. Furthermore, it is intended to extend the connectivity on the Spanish side by rail to the areas of Tarragona and Zaragoza.

This new offering can shorten transit times for import and export cargo in the areas Toulouse, Bordeaux and Lyon by up to 12 days (7 days on average) compared to traditional routings via French or North European ports. Thanks to shorter transport distances and the utilisation of electrified trains it can also be a more environmentally friendly routing. The block trains can also be booked for intra-continental cargo between Spain and France.

Maersk is operating this new end to end service via its own company APM Spain Railways and cooperates for the trains with the partners Captrain and Naviland.

Thanks to brand new interoperable locomotives, the block trains neither have to stop to change the locomotive or replace wheel-sets at the Spanish-French border for seamless operations and best-in-class reliability.

QANTAS Says Buongiorno with Direct Flights Between Australia and Italy

December 14, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Qantas will reignite its love affair with Rome, adding direct flights from Australia to the eternal city from the middle of next year. From 22 June 2022, Qantas will operate the only direct service between Australia and continental Europe, flying three return Sydney-Perth-Rome flights per week to meet demand over the European holiday peak season.

The new flight will cut more than three hours off the current fastest travel time to Rome using the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with cabins designed specifically for long haul travel.

Customers will be able to combine Qantas’ Rome flights with its double-daily direct flights between Australia and London, meaning they will be able to fly in and out of different cities on one return ticket through to October 2022.

The Rome service will also give customers another option for reaching onward destinations across the Mediterranean and southern Europe through Qantas’ network of partners.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said strong travel demand since borders re-opened had given the Flying Kangaroo confidence to explore new destinations as travelers look to make up for lost time.

The new route is expected to entice more visitors to Western Australia and Qantas will partner with Tourism Western Australia to boost inbound tourism from Europe into Perth and regional WA, as well as promote Perth as an ideal stopover for Australians travelling to Europe from the east coast.

Qantas recently started new flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Delhi and re-started a number of existing routes from Sydney and Melbourne to destinations including Los Angeles, London and Singapore.

Fares for the new Sydney-Perth-Rome flights go on sale today starting from $1785 return. Qantas will operate two Points Planes (bookable until 21 December 2021) for Frequent Flyers with every seat in every cabin available to book as a reward seat on the inaugural flight to Rome on 22 June and on the first flight departing Rome on 23 June.

The seasonal route will operate from 22 June until 6 October. Qantas will offer connections to 16 destinations in Europe including Athens, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Nice, Madrid and Paris and 15 destinations within Italy including Milan and Venice.

Alaska Airlines is the 14th member of the oneworld alliance.

Alaska Airlines Expands oneworld Partnership with New West Coast International Flights

December 13, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

SEATTLE, December 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ – Ready to start planning that long-awaited, much-deserved vacation or trip to Europe and destinations beyond? Alaska Airlines and our fellow oneworld member airlines – including American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and Iberia – are ready to take you there this summer with new nonstop international flights from our West Coast hubs and airports.

British Airways announced today it will begin nonstop service from Portland to London Heathrow five days a week starting on June 3, 2022. The flight becomes the sixth British Airways service to London from a key Alaska market on the West Coast joining Los Angeles; San Diego; San Francisco; San Jose, California; and Seattle.

Finnair announced last week its new nonstop flight between Seattle and Helsinki that’s scheduled for service three days a week beginning June 1. Finnair’s nonstop to Seattle joins its existing service to the Finnish capital from Los Angeles. Finnair will also increase its Los Angeles-Stockholm service to four nonstop flights a week beginning May 1.

By summer 2022, Alaska’s oneworld partners will offer more than 100 nonstop flights every week from the West Coast to Europe including nonstop service to London, Madrid, Barcelona, Stockholm and Helsinki. Once in Europe, journeys can continue throughout the Continent and other parts of the world with convenient connections through our partners’ hubs.

oneworld flights between the U.S. West Coast and Europe for summer 2022:

Alstom Signs Contract to Supply Metropolis Trains to the City of Santo Domingo

August 23, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Santo Domingo, August 23, 2021 – Alstom will manufacture, supply and commission eight (8) new three-car Metropolis trainsets for Line 1 of the Santo Domingo Metro serving the capital of the Dominican Republic. The international public tender, managed by the Oficina Para el Reordenamiento del Transporte (OPRET), and financed by the Agence française de développement, is a priority project for infrastructure development in Santo Domingo and to increase the transportation capacity of the country’s capital city.

Line 1 of the Santo Domingo metro, conceived to improve mobility in the north-centre-south city corridor, serves 16 stations across 14.5 kilometres. The new trains that Alstom is supplying will be able to operate in multiple units, coupled with each other or with the trains of the fleet previously acquired by OPRET, allowing capacity to be adapted to demand: 6-car configurations at peak times and 3-car configurations at off-peak times.

The new trains will have the same features, functionalities and characteristics of the Metropolis trains that currently operate in the Santo Domingo Metro, such as wide doors, wide corridors and a low floor for an optimal flow of passengers. In addition, the new trainsets will have additional features and technological improvements to enhance the passenger experience and optimize operations and availability, including LED lighting in the passenger area, Wi-Fi connection for the uploading of multimedia files and data transmission to the control unit, as well as improvements in the passenger information and alert system, train control and self-diagnosis systems.

The new trains will be manufactured at Alstom’s plant in Santa Perpetua, Barcelona, Spain, and the first two trains will arrive at the port of Santo Domingo approximately 18 months from the signing of the contract. These new trains will join the 25 Metropolis trains that Alstom previously supplied to Santo Domingo Metro for Line 1 and the 21 Metropolis trains supplied for Line2, since 2009, for a total of 138 cars.

Globally, more than 6,000 Metropolis cars have been sold across the globe, including to cities such as Barcelona, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Chennai, Montreal, Singapore, Buenos Aires, Lima and Santiago de Chile.

Adapted Alstom Euroduplex Trains for Spanish Network Brought into Service

May 11, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Four Avelia Euroduplex trains from the SNCF fleet will enter commercial service on Monday 10 May 2021 on the Madrid-Barcelona route. They will be operated by OUIGO España, a local subsidiary of SNCF. The trains have been converted by Alstom and SNCF to run on the Spanish high-speed rail network.

Following on from these first four trains, 10 other trains are currently being converted by Alstom to serve several high-speed routes in Spain: initially, the Madrid-Valencia and Madrid-Alicante routes and subsequently, Andalusia (Madrid-Seville and Madrid-Malaga). OUIGO España will thus have a fleet of 14 trains for 5 destinations departing from Madrid: Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Seville, and Malaga.

During the conversion process of the trains, Alstom developed and deployed on-board signalling equipment architecture, necessary for rail traffic safety and performance, based on its digital ERTMS[1] solution Atlas. This solution ensures that Avelia Euroduplex trains are compliant and can be approved for Spanish infrastructures.

Emirates and TAP Air Portugal Sign MOU to Expand Strategic Partnership

March 17, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Dubai, UAE, March 2021 – Emirates and TAP Air Portugal has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand the codeshare partnership currently in place between both airlines. The new agreement will see customers of both airlines benefit from seamless connectivity on many new routes across the Americas, North Africa and East Asia. Emirates and TAP Air Portugal will also explore ways to enhance the co-operation on their respective frequent flyer programmes including reciprocal earning and redemption opportunities and popular benefits such as lounge access.

In addition, both airlines plan on supporting each other’s stopover programmes in Dubai and Lisbon, with Emirates also supporting TAP Air Portugal as it looks at potential expansion opportunities in the UAE.

Subject to required regulatory approvals, the expanded agreement is expected to come into effect from 01 May 2021, will provide customers with seamless booking, ticketing and travel benefits across 70 destinations on both airlines’ networks.

Under the expanded partnership, TAP Air Portugal will place its code on Emirates’ flights to popular East Asia destinations such as Taipei, Tokyo, Osaka, Mumbai, Delhi, Dhaka, Male, Jakarta, Denpasar, Manila, Hanoi, as well as Barcelona, and Mexico City.

Emirates customers will be able to seamlessly access additional domestic destinations in Portugal, as well as TAP Air Portugal’s flights to cities in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Morocco, Tunisia, Gambia, and Cape Verde.

Ryanair Returning To Belfast City Airport, Launching 8 New Routes For Summer 2021

March 4, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Belfast, Northern Ireland – Ryanair (London: RYA.L), Europe’s no. 1 airline, today (04 March) announced it will return to Belfast City Airport after 11 years and is delighted to launch 8 new routes for summer ’21 connecting Belfast to a host of popular international summer destinations.

Northern Ireland consumers can now book a sunshine getaway to summer favourites, including Malaga (7 x weekly), Mallorca (7 x w), Faro (7 x w), Alicante (7 x w), Barcelona (5 x w), Ibiza (2 x w), Milan Bergamo (2 x w) and Valencia (2 x w), flying on the lowest fares and with the option to avail of Ryanair’s “zero change fee” offer should plans change.

The UK’s highly successful rollout of their vaccination program, which has seen almost 35% of the adult population of Northern Ireland already vaccinated, gives customers the confidence that Summer travel will be possible and with low fares now available from Belfast City Airport, there’s never been a better time to book a break to one of these 8 fantastic sun destinations for Summer 2021.

To celebrate the return to Belfast City Airport, Ryanair has launched a seat sale, with fares available from just £14.99 for travel from June to October 2021, which must be booked by midnight Saturday, 6^th March only on Ryanair.com.

Austrian Airlines to Add Montreal and New York JFK Flights Starting in May

March 1, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Austrian Airlines is expanding its long-haul services in the upcoming summer flight schedule. From May, Austria’s home carrier will once again be flying three times a week to Montreal and New York JFK. As Newark was already in service up to now, the total number of flights to New York will increase to eight connections per week as of May.

“With five destinations in North America and three in Asia, including Tokyo and Bangkok, our long-haul services are back on a slight climb this summer. Unfortunately, we are still a long way from reaching cruising altitude. We hope that a rapid increase in the vaccination rate and a corresponding relaxation of travel restrictions will give us a further boost in the future”, says Austrian Airlines CCO Michael Trestl.

Austrian Airlines was already able to announce an increase in its summer flight schedule last week. From the end of March, various destinations will be resumed, including Barcelona, Dubrovnik and Florence. Hanover will be served by Austrian Airlines again for the first time since 2009. In addition, numerous vacation destinations are back on offer, for example in Greece, Italy and Spain. In the intercontinental route network, Amman, Bangkok, Chicago and Tokyo are back in the flight schedule.

On the Austrian Airlines website, passengers will find information on travel in times of corona, mandatory wearing of masks, country-specific travel regulations or flexible rebooking arrangements. The information is updated on an ongoing basis.

Ryanair Launches Over 700 Winter Route Destinations For 2021/2022 Season

February 15, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Ryanair (London: RYA.L), Europe’s no. 1 airline, has today (11 Feb) launched its Winter 21/22 schedule, covering its most popular destinations for trips taking off from late October. Boasting over 700 routes across the Ryanair network – and further destinations to be released in the coming weeks – winter sun is where it’s at for 2021. Ever popular with its customers, Ryanair has launched routes to the likes of sunny Cyprus, Gran Canaria, the Greek islands, Sicily and Malaga for Winter ’21 and avid skiers who missed out on their trip to the slopes can dust off their skis with popular destinations such as Turin, Milan and Salzburg set to welcome visitors once again next winter.

In addition to winter sun and ski, customer can also book winter city breaks to Lisbon, Paris, Venice and many more. Having missed out on holidays and weekend breaks in 2020, an eclectic mix of destinations is on offer from Ryanair this winter spanning beach holidays, city breaks, cultural and foodie hotspots. To celebrate the release of Ryanair’s Winter ’21 / 22 schedule, Ryanair has launched a seat sale with fares available from €29.99 for travel from October ’21 – March ’22, available for booking on the Ryanair.com website only until midnight, Sunday 14^th Feb 2021.

Statement from Ryanair’s Director of Marketing, Dara Brady

“While we believe the successful roll-out of the vaccine will see Europeans enjoying their favourite spots this Summer, Ryanair wants to give customers further choice and something to look forward to, whether that is a break to reunite with friends and family in July, or a winter sun getaway to the sunny Greek Islands in November. With 20m seats on sale on over 700 routes and further destinations to be released in the coming weeks, customers can now book a Winter getaway until the end of March 2022, always on the lowest fares.

We’ve added firm favourites Barcelona, Malta and Marrakech to the list of destinations this year, and to celebrate we’ve launched a seat sale with amazing fares available from just €29.99 for travel from October 2021 until end of March 2022, which must be booked before midnight Sunday, 14^th Feb 2021. Since these amazing low fares will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com”.

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