By Arturo Higueras
World2Fly Ready For Take-Off
Back in December 2020, a new airline announced its intention to enter the Spanish-Caribbean market. Branded as World2Fly, the carrier is part of the Iberostar tourism group and will connect Madrid Barajas Airport inSpain and Lisbon Humberto Delgado airport, Portugal with different destinations such as Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Cancún, Mexico and La Habana, Cuba.
With Bruno Claeys as its director, the airline has made some big steps in the past weeks to prepare for the beginning of operations in June. Last week, the Spanish airline obtained its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) from the Spanish Air Safety Agency (AESA) after completing all relevant security tests. This milestone comes a month and a half later than expected, as the carrier wanted to have it by March. Nevertheless, World2Fly’s plans have not changed for next summer.
This April, the airline has also seen its first Airbus A350-900 roll out from the paint station. Assembled in the Airbus factory of Toulouse, France, the aircraft is still marked with the Airbus test registration, F-WZHI. However, when it enters in operation with World2Fly, it is expected to show its new Spanish registration: EC-NOI. This A350-900 is an aircraft originally ordered by Aeroflot. However, the Russian carrier decided to cancel the order, and the aircraft will now be the first of the two Airbus 350-900 that the Spanish carrier will have. The other one will be delivered during 2022.
Last April 23, F-WZHI performed its first test flight from the Toulouse factory. Powered with two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, the aircraft completed a 3 hour and 35 minutes test flight before landing back in Toulouse. The Spanish airline will use the A350-900 in their operations from Madrid-Barajas, while they will fly from Lisbon Humberto Delgado with an Airbus A330-300 registered as EC-LXR.
World2Fly has highlighted its commitment with the A350 as a compromise with sustainable aviation: “Not only is it designed to reduce pollution, resulting in 25 per cent less fuel consumption and lower CO2 emissions, but it is also quieter than other aircraft and helps reduce the effects of jet lag.”
World2Fly will start operations next June 19 flying from Madrid to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Cancún, Mexico and La Habana, Cuba with two weekly frequencies. Operations will start later from Lisbon with the A330-300 and with a single weekly frequency.
World2Fly is not the only Spanish carrier going into the Caribbean market. LEVEL, the long-haul low-cost brand of IAG group, has also announced a new route connecting Barcelona El Prat with Cancún, Mexico starting July 2. With a single weekly frequency, the aircraft will leave Barcelona at 14:00 every Friday and will be back by 09:00 on Sundays. ”
We are very excited to launch this new route, a sign of LEVEL’s agility to adapt to the current situation and offer new destinations to travel to this summer. Beyond responding to our commitment to the long-haul from Barcelona, with the flights to Cancun we want to contribute to reactivate the tourism sector and offer travel alternatives at a time when people are eager to make exciting plans again,” affirmed Lucía Adrover, commercial director of LEVEL.
Arturo joined AirlineGeeks in 2020 as a writer. He is a Spanish Aerospace Engineer who recently completed his undergraduate studies at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He has always been passionate about aviation and, in addition to his engineering knowledge, he is now completing a Master’s Degree in Air Transport Management at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. Being passionate about journalism, he has been part of several online magazine projects, he will now be covering aviation news from Europe.