A brand new airline is to operate out of Newcastle International Airport next month flying to Madrid, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria this winter.
Iberia Express, a low-cost airline owned by Iberia, will operate multiple flights to and from Newcastle between December 26 and January 3, 2021.
It will be the first time the Spanish airline has operated from the North East. The news comes as TUI and Jet2.com added extra capacity to the Canary Islands this winter due to increased demand.
The islands were recently added to the UK's travel corridor list, meaning passengers do not need to quarantine on return to the UK.
Richard Knight, chief operating officer at Newcastle Airport sad: "We are delighted to welcome Iberia Express - part of the IAG group - to the region and hope this will be the start of a long relationship.
"There is no doubt this has been a challenging year however, the North East travelling public have shown that demand is there to travel.
"When the Canary Islands were added to the UK's travel corridor list we saw a huge increase in passengers looking to travel therefore it is great to see even more capacity to these popular destinations this winter."
Evandro Vianna, chief commercial officer at Iberia Express, said: "Here at Iberia Express we are committed to the recovery of tourism.
"As the holiday season begins, we believe that it is important to support connectivity by strengthening our flight program with new routes and more frequencies that allow our clients to reach their preferred destinations.
"The Canary Islands is one of the most popular destinations during these dates, and because of this, we have opted to operate these new routes to and from the islands of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.
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"The health and safety of our passengers, crew and collaborators is of course our absolute priority, and to facilitate this, we have implemented a number of prevention and hygiene measures that ensure safety on our flights and provide the customer with a pleasant flying experience."
Flights to Madrid, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria are now on sale.
