Spain’s low-cost airliner Clickair, founded last autumn, will launch in May a direct Bucharest-Barcelona flight, as part of its network expansion program.
Also in the upcoming months, the airliner will launch flights bound for Rome, Pisa, Napoli, Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Warsaw, Dubrovnik and Malta. Clickair’s strategy aims at developing a flights network including 70 routes bound for 55 European cities by end 2008.

According to company data, a two-way ticket from Bucharest to Barcelona, at the end of May costs some EUR125, taxes included.

Clickair’s shareholders include Spain’s national airliner Iberia, Cobra, a company of ACS group, tour-operator Nefinsa, part of Iberostar group, and investment fund Quercus Equity (Grupo Agrolimen), each holding a 20% stake in the share capital.

For this year, the company estimated to reach a level of 4.5 million passengers, compared with 300,000 persons in 2006, and expects to register ten million clients next year.

Another low-cost airliner that announced its decision to enter the Romanian market is Germanwings, division of Germany’s Lufthansa. The flight from Bucharest (Baneasa airport) to Koln (Koln-Bonn airport) will be launched on March 25.

The low-cost market from Romania is currently divided between Blue Air, MyAir, Wizz Air and SkyEurope, but other European companies, like EasyJet and Ryanair, could start operating in Romania in the near future.
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