Spain's Pullmantur Air to Focus on Hajj Charter Market in 2015

Pullmantur Air (EB, Madrid Barajas) will deploy only one of its four B747-400s onto flights to the Caribbean next year with the rest being used for Hajj charter flights. Spanish tourism newswire, Preferente, says the decision to use only one widebody on Pullmatur's flights to Cancún and Punta Cana came as a result of declining demand brought on by a weak Spanish economy.

Instead, the carrier will focus on the Hajj charter market where this year it will operate flights for and on behalf of Saudia (SV, Jeddah) and Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta).

Pullmantur suspended its own Madrid Barajas to Punta Cana flights late last month so as to free up more capacity for its Hajj charter business. It currently leases Air Europa (UX, Palma de Mallorca Son Sant Joan) A330-200s on the route on a weekly basis instead.