I spend a lot of time commuting between my two Spanish homes - a property on the Costa del Sol and a property on the Costa Blanca. Although it´s a gruelling 5 hour drive, the cheapest way to make the journey is by car.

However, it´s sometimes nice to catch the plane. After all, until recently Iberia, Spain´s national airline, operated a direct one-hour flight between Malaga and Alicante airports, ideal for what I needed. This arrangement allowed me to check-in late, relax on the plane, and catch up with phone calls and paperwork without having to concentrate on the road in front!
I never imagined that this route was ever very profitable for Iberia. I used it 3 times, and on occasion I was one of a handful of passengers – indeed, the planes kept getting smaller with each journey! Now that this route has been axed, it´s still possible to fly from Malaga to Alicante, but I need to travel via Madrid. That´s the bad news. The good news is that Spanair also operate this service via Madrid, and although the average total journey time is just over 3 hours, it still beats driving on occasions.

But the main problem is the price. I´d never found Iberia particularly competitive on price before this week, but when I went on their website to book a return trip from Malaga to Alicante (via Madrid) for travel next week, the fare was quoted as 1,100 euros. I had to repeat the booking procedure to make sure I hadn´t asked for a private jet!

There are rumours that Ryanair are interested in breaking into the Spanish domestic air travel market – it can´t come quickly enough! It´s strange to see the inefficiency of Iberia and other Spanish carriers when you consider that the route between Barcelona and Madrid is the most frequented airline route in global travel – it´s so popular, you can just turn up without a booking and wait for the next plane!