Binter Canarias

Binter Canarias (or simply Binter) is a Spanish airline based in the Canary Islands. It belonged to Iberia L.A.E. until 2002, when it was sold to Hesperia Inversiones Aéreas. Hesperia Inversiones Aéreas was a company created with the sole purpose of buying Binter Canarias. In 2003 Binter Canarias, S.A.U. was absorbed by Hesperia Inversiones Aéreas, S.A., which changed its name to Binter Canarias, S.A.

A part of its flights are operated by its subsidiary Canarias Airlines. Its current fleet is 7 ATR 72 of the 500 series, 13 ATR 72 of the 600 series and 5 newly acquired E-195 E2, to which it will add one more during 2021. Its headquarters are divided between the Gran Canaria (or Gando Airport) in the municipality of Telde, Gran Canaria island and on the island of Tenerife, at the Tenerife North Airport, in La Laguna. The company flies to all Canarian airports and also to eleven national destinations outside the Canary Islands, La Coruña, Asturias, Jerez de la Frontera, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Santander, Vigo, Vitoria and Zaragoza. It also flies to Funchal, Porto Santo in the Madeira archipelago (Portugal) and Lisbon in Portugal, Agadir in Morocco, Dakar in Senegal, Nouakchott in Mauritania, Lille, Marseille and Toulouse in France and Turin, Venice in Italy. Binter Canarias has a subsidiary in the Cape Verdean Islands, Binter CV. In 2021 he signed a collaboration with the DyA association.

Binter CV landing on São Vicente Island.

DC-9 rented by Binter in Lanzarote (1997).

History

A CASA CN-235 from Binter Canarias in the Farnborough Air Show.

Binter was created in 1988 to take over the inter-island flights that Aviaco had carried out until then with Fokker F27 and DC-9-30 and Iberia L.A.E. with B-727. The Iberia company decided the name of its air transport line between the islands precisely because of its inter-island character and attributing the common link between the central parent company and the subsidiary with the letter "B". In the previous rounds of brainstorming to choose the most appropriate name, options such as Canarias Airways or Ibanarias were considered. However, in the end the company decided to adopt the name of Binter Canarias.

It began operations on March 26, 1989 with 4 CASA CN-235, a 40-seater turboprop aircraft (EC-EMN, EC-EMJ [1], EC-EMK and EC-EMO). The following year and later, 3 ATR 72-202 and 3 ATR 72-201 (EC-ESS, EC-EUJ, EC-EYK, EC-FIV, EC-FJX and EC-FKQ) were incorporated and in 1994 4 DC- 9 (EC-BIM, EC-BIR, EC-BIT, EC-BQZ, these rented with pilots -not T.C.P., who were from Binter itself- to Iberia). The DC-9s were withdrawn at the end of 1997, alleging that they were not profitable on such short routes, although they were the largest, fastest and most comfortable aircraft, although they were quite old and polluting, which generated controversy among Canarian society. that he preferred them to turboprops. The CN-235s were also withdrawn and ATR 72-500s were incorporated. In July 2002, in compliance with the agreements made during the privatization of Iberia, the shares of the company owned by Iberia (99.99%) are sold to Hesperia Inversiones Aéreas, S.A., a company created in 2002 with the aim of buying Binter Canarias. At the time of the sale, Hesperia's shareholder structure was as follows:

On July 15, 2003, Hesperia Inversiones Aéreas, S.A. merged by absorption with Binter Canarias, S.A.U., Binter transferring all its assets and obligations to Hesperia. Hesperia subsequently agreed to adopt the name Binter Canarias and transfer its registered office to that of the old Binter. Atlántico Sur, S.L.. Likewise, in 2009 it spun off all its administrative support activity to a new company called Gestión Aeronáutica Integral Canaria, S.L., which it has contracted under an outsourcing system. Despite its name, the maintenance company has its facilities and carries out its activities exclusively in the North Atlantic, and not in the South.

In 1992, 1993, 2005, 2010 and 2013, it was chosen as the best regional company in Europe by the ERA association.

Binter currently has expansion plans through third-party companies, which operate under a franchise regime. In addition, it has established a business framework to optimize its productivity in the inter-island air market. In this way, it will strengthen its dominant position in the Canary Islands market.

Until May 2007, Binter had 13 ATR 72s to carry out inter-island flights and with Madeira and Africa, but between May and June 2007 the company got rid of 4 of them, which were operated by Naysa. They were the following devices: EC-GRU, EC-GRP, EC-GQF and EC-IPJ. Subsequently, he broke away from the IPJ.

In December 2017, Binter Canarias and CanaryFly reached an agreement to face the competition. This includes the possibility for the passenger to change flights operated by either of the two companies at no additional cost and 45 minutes before the flight. For this it is necessary to have a flexible rate.

In 2018 Binter announced its national expansion, making regular flights to Vigo and Palma de Mallorca starting its inter-island expansion with 3 Mitsubishi CRJ-1000. There are 4 weekly flights in the case of the Vigo route and also 4 in the case of Palma de Mallorca since May 2018.

Since June 2018, Binter has been in charge of covering internal flights between the two inhabited islands of the Madeira archipelago (Madeira itself and Porto Santo), after winning an international contest convened by the Government of Portugal to guarantee service in that route. Specifically, the flights between Madeira and Porto Santo with a duration of 20 minutes carried out by ATR-72 turboprop aircraft, such as those used by the airline in the Canary Islands. Binter offers a daily round-trip connection between the two islands from October to April, a service that is reinforced from May to September, increasing the number of daily frequencies from one to two. The company also announced that, in the medium term, it plans to connect the Funchal airport with Faro (Portugal), Marrakesh (Morocco) and Seville.

In 2019 it opens new regular routes to Murcia, Pamplona and Zaragoza. On December 3, 2019, Binter Canarias announces a new destination for 2020, this being Cantabria. It will be a regular line between said city with the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, once a week with each island.

Awards and recognitions

• Binter has been selected by Tripadvisor users in 2019 as the best Spanish airline in two categories: best favorite European airline and airline for travellers per country (Travellers Choice Regional Airline – Europe).
• The Department of Economics, Industry, Trade and Knowledge of the Government of the Canary Islands grants Binter the FICA 2016 award to the Best International Company of the archipelago.
• In 2016 Binter is recognized as the Airlines of the Year by the Association of European Regional Airlines, being the sixth time this independent agency grants the Canarian airline its maximum award.
• In April and May 2015, Binter was the world's most punctual airline according to data offered by Flightview, with a percentage of flights reached in an hour greater than 96%.
• Binter has achieved up to five times the maximum award awarded by the Association of European Regional Airlines (ERA), the last one in 2013-2014.
• In 2013 it occupies the 5th position in the ranking of the best airlines in the world, according to the table produced by eDreams from the valuation of its users.
• FlightStats' data place Binter as the most timely airline in Europe and North America in 2009.

Fleet

Current fleet

ATR 72-500 de Binter Canarias landing at Tenerife-South airport

Binter Canarias began operations with a fleet of 4 CN-235s, which stopped operating on the islands in 1997, and from 1995 to 1998 it leased 4 DC-9s to Iberia. Today, its fleet is mainly made up of ATR 72 aircraft. Since 2021, Binter Canarias has 5 Embraer 195 E2 in its fleet.

Currently, the airline operates the following aircraft:

Historical fleet

Destinations

TFN

TFS

LPA

ACE

FUE

SPC

GMZ

VDE

Location of island destinations.

FNC

PXO

Location of destinations in Madeira (Portugal).

National destinations of Binter Canarias

Destinations	Airports
Canary Islands
The Iron	El Hierro Airport
Fuerteventura	Fuerteventura Airport
Gran Canaria	Airport of Gran Canaria
La Gomera	La Gomera Airport
Lanzarote	César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport
La Palma	La Palma Airport
Tenerife	Tenerife North-City of La Laguna Airport
	Airport of Tenerife South
Peninsula and Balearic Islands
Asturias	Airport of Asturias
The Coruña	La Coruña Airport
Grenada	Granada-Jaén Airport
Ibiza	Ibiza Airport
Jerez de la Frontera	Jerez Airport
Menorca	Menorca Airport
Murcia	Int Airport. of the Region of Murcia
Palma de Mallorca	Palma de Mallorca Airport
Pamplona	Pamplona Airport
San Sebastián	San Sebastian Airport
Santander	Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport
Valladolid	Valladolid Airport
Vigo	Vigo Airport
Vitoria	Vitoria Airport
Zaragoza	Zaragoza Airport

VGO

LCG

OVD

SDR

EAS

VIT

NAPA

ZAZ

GRX

PMI

MAH

IBZ

RMU

XRY

Location of other national destinations.

LIL

TLS

TRN

VCE

Location of other European destinations.

International destinations of Binter Canarias

Countries	Destinations	Airports
Europe
France	Lille	Lille-Lesquin Airport
	Toulouse	Toulouse-Blagnac Airport
ItalyItaly	Florence	Florence Airport
	Venice	Marco Polo International Airport
	Portugal	Funchal	Madeira Airport
Ponta Delgada		Airport John Paul II
Porto Santo		Porto Santo Airport
Africa
Cape VerdeCape Verde	Parks	International Airport Amílcar Cabral
GambiaGambia	Banjul	Yundum International Airport
MoroccoMorocco	Agadir	Agadir-Al Massira Airport
	Eglemin	Egleimín Airport
	Esauira	Esauira Airport
	Fez	Fez-Saïss Airport
	Marrakech	Marrakech-Menara Airport
	Tangier	Tangier Airport
MauritaniaMauritania	Nuakchot	Nuakchot International Airport
Western Sahara	Dajla	Dajla Airport
	The Aaiun	Hassan I International Airport
SenegalSenegal	Dakar	Blaise Diagne International Airport

Passenger statistics 2002-present