London Gatwick - Bilbao is next on clickair network - Daily flights start from 30 March

Tuesday 8th January, 2008

clickair (www.clickair.com) is expanding its low cost services from London Gatwick with the start of daily flights to Bilbao in Northern Spain. From March 30, 2008, clickair is taking the route over from Iberia, offering outbound one way fares from just €40 (£32.00) and return flights starting at 20€ or £16.00 (price difference owing to the airport’s higher airport taxes).

Pending final confirmation of the schedule, flights will depart London Gatwick at 09.55 arriving in Bilbao at 10.45 and from Bilbao at 11.35 arriving London Gatwick at 14.20.

Bilbao will be clickair’s second destination from London Gatwick and its fifth Spanish destination from the UK. The airline already operates daily flights from London Gatwick to Seville, complemented by daily services to both Valencia and La Coruña from London Heathrow and thrice-weekly flights from Edinburgh to Barcelona.

Bilbao is a driving force of social and economic development in northern Spain. With a population of nearly one million people, Bilbao’s ambitious architectural and general infrastructure projects have fuelled the regeneration of the city and turned it into an international model of post-industrial urban renewal. Bilbao's cultural calendar is hard to resist: from avant-garde art and fashion to classical music; from some of Spain’s best art galleries to architect Frank Gehry’s signature titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum, straddling the city’s river at a site that barely a decade ago symbolised the demise of heavy industry.

The city, Spain’s fifth largest, is surrounded by lush meadows and forests, rolling hills and a picturesque coast. Thanks to a modern urban transportation system - with tube stations designed by Norman Foster” and express roadways reaching out in all directions, the other Basque cities of Vitoria and San Sebastian are barely 45 and 60 minutes away, respectively, offering attractions as diverse as visits to the world-famous Rioja wineries or all-year surfing at some the best beaches on Spain’s Atlantic coastline such as Sopelana and Zarauz.

The Basque Country has a rich gastronomy and offers a wide variety of restaurants, with dishes ranging from traditional cuisine to the most refined culinary creations. In fact, no other region in the world has a higher ratio of Michelin stars “per capita” and is home to acclaimed chefs such as Juan Mari Arzac - considered by many as the ‘heir’ to Paul Bocuse, MartÃn Berasategui and Pedro Subijana.

But five star dining is only the tip of the iceberg. In fact, Basque cuisine is home to the widest and most imaginative variety of “tapas” (called “pintxos” in Bilbao) that can invariably be found at hundreds of bars and restaurants. The locals prefer to indulge in the "chiquiteo", the custom of bar-hopping and drinking several small glasses of wine (“chiquito” means small) along with their “pintxos” in the Siete Calles (Seven Streets) as the old quarter is popularly known. But all of Bilbao and its surroundings offer a unique experience in food and wine that can be enjoyed in a wide range of prices without compromising quality and friendly service.

“We are very pleased to be adding another popular cultural destination to our network from London Gatwick,”said clickair CEO Alex Cruz, himself a Bilbao native. “Furthermore, any travellers flying with us from London Gatwick will soon be able to experience our innovative click&fly check in.” click&fly eliminates the need for the check in process, enabling UK and European-originating passengers to select their seat online and print their boarding pass as soon as the booking is confirmed - even if the date of travel is six months’ away. click&fly is already operational at London Heathrow.

clickair, Spain’s leading low cost carrier, carried 4.6 million passengers in 2007 and achieved top ranking as the most punctual operator at Spanish airports - on both international and domestic services. *

clickair for the business traveler

clickair continues to deliver a number of in-flight service enhancements for the business traveler, including for the first time, the option to allow them to pay for the middle seat on the first few rows of their Airbus A320 aircraft (the B and E seats) for a supplement of 30 Euros. clickair is marketing this - on more than 200 flights as its ‘Premium Plus Seat’, along with its existing Premium Seat (€10 for the first few aisles and emergency seat rows). The Premium Plus Seat is now live for flights on sale from 28 March and will be available until the 15th June and again after September 15.

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* According to Eurocontrol, clickair was the most punctual airline serving Spanish airports during 2007. Some 86.6% of its international departures, all to hub airports, took off within 15 minutes of the departure time (December 2007 was 94%). clickair also topped the table for domestic services too with 87% of all flights taking off on time (93.2% in December).
Editor’s notes

• clickair operates a 24-strong fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft, fitted with 180 leather upholstered seats. Its headquarters are at Barcelona El Prat Airport and it employs a total of 780 people.
• clickair entered the low cost airline market as probably the best financed start up in Europe - with an initial capital of €120 million. It started out in October 2006 with three A320s serving Barcelona to Seville, Geneva, Zurich and Lisbon and between Seville and Paris-Orly and now flies to more that 60 destinations in Spain, Continental Europe, the British Isles and North Africa.
• clickair offers comprehensive prices and flies only to main hub airports. It also provides a range of ancillary services which it promotes on its website, including clickcar, clickhotel, clickinsurance, clickbreaks and clicklounges.
• clickair offers more ways to buy its tickets than any other new airline - via its website, through the call centre (00 800 254 25247) and through any travel agency as it is available to travel industry professionals on leading GDS such as Amadeus.
• clickair is backed by five major Spanish companies, each with a 20% share of the equity. These are: Iberia; Nefinsa (parent of Spanish regional carrier Air Nostrum); Spanish construction group ACS, through its Cobra affiliate; hotel and resort company Iberostar and Querus Equity, a private equity fund, part of the Agrolimen Group.

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