Further cuts to Canary Islands flights possible

Following on from last week's news that Ryanair may consider cutting Canary Island routes it has been revealed that Jet2 and Monarch may be about to follow suit.

The regional government of the Canary Islands last week announced that they would be cutting the subsidies offered to airlines to bring visitors to the Islands, which immediately prompted carriers to look into the viability of sustaining their existing routes.

Both Ryanair, Jet2 and Monarch all extended the number of flights and routes between the UK and the Canary Islands over the course of 2011, but the withdrawal of the government support has led to airlines threatening to cut a number of routes and flights from their schedules due them being unprofitable, and unsustainable without the subsidy.

The Canaries are already reeling from the recent routes lost with the collapse of Spanair last week and a number of business associations have expressed their concerns this will have on the Islands Tourism Industry.

The Regional Partido Popular Government have denied accusations by the Cabildo of Tenerife that the reductions in flights coming to the Island this year have anything to do with the subsidy being withdrawn.