800 British skiers land at Lleida Airport to launch winter season
This Sunday, 800 tourists from the UK landed at Lleida-Alguaire Airport (Western Catalonia) to go skiing in the Pyrenees. The high number of English passengers is mostly due to the commitment of British tour operator Neilson Thomas Cook to the Catalan airport, which will run flights from Manchester, Southampton, Birmingham, Gatwick and Bristol. Until March, 20,000 skiers are expected to land in Lleida, along with 15,000 other visitors, to make the airport’s total number of passengers reach 35,000. Many of them will then cross the border to enjoy ski resorts in Andorra. According to the Catalan Government’s Delegate in the Lleida Province, Ramon Farré, these figures still show that “this airport is far from other airports in Spain which are not so successful”.
Lleida (ACN).- With the arrival of 800 British skiers on Sunday at the Lleida-Alguaire Airport (Western Catalonia), the winter season was off to a good start. It is the third year British tour operator Neilson Thomas Cook connects the Lleida Airport with cities such as Manchester, Southampton, Birmingham, Gatwick, and Bristol. Until March, 20,000 skiers are expected to land in the airport, along with 15,000 other visitors, to make the airport’s total number of passengers reach 35,000. Many of them will then cross the border to enjoy ski resorts in Andorra. According to the Catalan Government’s Delegate in Lleida Province, Ramon Farré, these figures still show that “this airport is far from other airports in Spain which are not so successful”.
Ramon Farré stressed the commitment of Neilson Thomas Cook to the Lleida Airport for the third consecutive year. Farré added he expected this partnership to continue “over the next 10 or 15 years”. According to him, Lleida-Alguaire is the “most adequate airport for this type of travelling” due to the short time needed for passengers to exit the plane and travel to the ski resorts.
Farré emphasised that the airport has “positive expectations for the future” due in part, to the “industrial strategies” they are implementing. Next weekend, 1,700 passengers are expected to land at Lleida-Alguaire before crossing the border to Andorra. Sharon Flatery will be amongst them. She said she had chosen Soldeu ski-resort because “it is very easy for participants and a beautiful resort”. Another passenger, Ted Masshow, explained that he had wanted to spend Christmas surrounded by snow and this was why he had chosen Andorra.