Aviation International News senior correspondent Ian Goold has been involved in aerospace since 1964 and in aviation media for more than 40 years. He enjoyed a 20-year career at Flight International magazine, where he was latterly air-transport editor before turning freelance in 1993. A winner of the European Regions Airline Association Hank McGonagle award for excellence in aerospace journalism and a Royal Aeronautical Society Aerospace Journalist of the Year global&nbsp;award, he has edited or contributed to aerospace and aviation magazines, special publications, and websites in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. Ian entered aerospace as an apprentice at the British Aircraft Corporation at Brooklands (Weybridge), where he worked on production and final assembly lines of the Vickers Super VC10, and BAC One-Eleven , and manufacture of Concorde major sub-assemblies. He subsequently graduated from the BAC Design Training School to work in the airframe structures drawing office (including design of international future projects, such as the Panavia Tornado multi-role combat aircraft) before joining Flight International in 1973. Apart from years of reading aircraft magazines and books, his first direct contact with aviation media had come during the early 1970s when he was involved at Brooklands with the Weybridge Man-powered Aircraft Group, which designed and built the tenth aircraft to fly under purely human power. As an aviation journalist, he has worked at more than&nbsp; 50 of the major biennial&nbsp;global and regional international aerospace industry shows at Le Bourget, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai (having missed attending only one "Farnborough" since 1960), plus innumerable NBAA, HAI, (U.S.) AOPA, and EBACE Conventions and ERA Assemblies. His favourite aircraft is the Hawker Hunter, of which – as a schoolboy – he heard hundreds make their first flights from Dunsfold, where also on September 24, 2013, he saw the penultimate landing of the VC10 (happily involving an example of which he had witnessed the maiden takeoff in 1970) a day before the last example made the design's final flight (unless, of course....).

Senior correspondent

Ian Goold

A revolution in Binter Canarias’s approach to business and the Spanish carrier’s distinguished on-time performance record led to its selection, for the third time, as the ERA’s Airline of the Year last October. Binter relinquishes its title at the ERA general assembly in, appropriately enough, the Spanish city of Barcelona at the end of this month.

A former state-owned subsidiary of flag carrier Iberia, Binter Canarias went private only four years ago. Now flying among eight points in the Canary Islands and six mainland destinations in Europe and Africa, Binter describes itself as having “passed from being a mere operative arm of a state flag carrier to an efficient independent and profitable airline.”

Along with privatization has come competition, requiring the airline to reach out to the mainland to limit its reliance on a small home market buoyed by subsidies. All but a few Binter operations comprise public-service obligation (PSO) routes–flights supported by European Union funds to ensure adequate transport and access to remote regional areas.

When selling Binter, Spanish state enterprise holding company SEPI kept a “golden share,” but it has never used its authority to interfere in operations. Officials say that Binter’s freedom to drop handling services provided by Iberia to establish its own operation reflects its “total” independence as a sovereign, autonomous company.

The airline says that private ownership has seen it successfully develop “a good image” with its own identity. Binter has changed its corporate image with the introduction of a new emblem, aircraft livery and cabin interior, crew uniform, airport self-check-in machines and a frequent-flyer program among other initiatives. 

At last year’s ERA assembly, Binter announced its order for an eighth ATR 72-500 twin turboprop for inter-island operations, bringing its ATR fleet to 13. Officials acknowledge the political influence in the selection of the Spanish-Indonesian CASA-Nurtanio CN-235 twin turboprops with which Binter began operations in 1989 (along with a few Iberia McDonnell Douglas DC-9s). A company spokesman called the turboprops “magnificent, [although] designed more for military than civil use.” But when traffic growth required more capacity Binter chose the Franco-Italian ATR 72 and hasn’t looked back.

For low-density service, the airline uses two Raytheon Beech 1900Ds belonging to local operator Navegacion y Servicios Aereos Canarias. It also wet leases three Futura International Boeing 737-800s for “thick” routes to the European mainland.

Although the nature of inter-island travel naturally limits potential for local expansion–especially now that competition exists–a major advantage for local operators lies with the fact that the restricted market is less susceptible to global trends. Accordingly, Binter was “scarcely affected” by otherwise widespread negative traveler reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks that aggravated an already developing downturn in 2001.

Of course, global trends in fuel prices do not discriminate. “The price of fuel is a critical aspect, [although] the developed economies’ capacity to absorb this phenomenon is surprising,” one official told AIN.

Apart from higher fuel costs, price caps on PSO support influence the Spanish regional’s selection of aircraft. Regional jets simply cannot make a profit in PSO markets, limiting Binter’s choices to turboprops and jetliners holding at least 150 seats. Binter has considered up to five such aircraft for peak-hour island services and for new operations to Paris and Milan. In 2004 Binter opened a route to Funchal on Madeira and has since entered North Africa.

The flights to Africa provide onward long-haul connections, while Binter also wants to offer regular direct links to “diverse” airports in Europe–flights on which it plans to offer business-class service not available on its short-haul turboprop routes.

Under the ownership of Hesperia de Inversiones Aereas since its 2002 privatization, Binter has moved heavily into Internet booking, with about 60 percent of last year’s passengers using electronic tickets and self-check-in. The workforce has doubled to about 850 and annual passenger numbers have increased from 2.25 million in 2002 to 2.7 million last year. The punctuality that contributed to its Airline of the Year award saw more than 91 percent of its flights arrive on time, while cancellations accounted for fewer than 2 percent of scheduled services.

Nevertheless, the past four years have been far from turbulence-free, especially with regard to competition on island routes. Asked if the new regime envisioned the level of development Binter Canarias has had to undertake, one airline manager unhesitatingly responded: “Sincerely not. The work that has been done in the [past few years] has been very intense, [but] has given fruit. Five years ago we were not expecting to have direct competition, which today exists. [Also] we are flying to international destinations that were not contemplated.”

Looking forward, Binter remains determined to develop its European and African networks, despite the inherent competitive challenges it continues to face. “Binter has developed in a [context] of competition and [has learned] to be efficient,” the official said. “We might define ourselves as a [low-cost] regional and [among] the most profitable airlines in the world in proportion to our size.”

ERA 2006: Three-time Airline of the Year not content to rest on its laurels

A revolution in Binter Canarias’s approach to business and the Spanish carrier’s distinguished on-time performance record led to its selection, for the thi

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