San Sebastian: Make the most of new flights while the sun shines

The man who pays his way

San Sebastian (Shutterstock)

San Sebastian airport is close to France. How close? Well, the runway juts into the Bidassoa River, which divides Spain from France, and the international frontier has to do a little wiggle around the runway to ensure the airport remains in Spanish territory.

If you have been lucky enough to visit the culinary hub of northern Spain, you almost certainly didn’t fly in to the city’s airport. San Sebastian airport is 12 miles east along the coast from the pintxo bars of the Old Town, occupying just about the only swathe of flat land in this part of the Basque Country. You can fly to it from anywhere you like, so long as it’s Barcelona or Madrid. So San Sebastian, currently European Capital of Culture, is the single significant Spanish city not accessible by air from Britain.

Last weekend, I crossed the river over the footbridge from Hendaye - the last town in France - which passes the runway. San Sebastian airport was quiet. It usually is; six domestic flights represents a good day. But starting this summer, the arrivals board will see a new arrival: Luton. Twice a week from 26 July, Air Nostrum will link the Bedfordshire airport with the Basque Country’s loveliest city. And that is a signal that the airline industry is back in an expansive mood, filling gaps in the market that I didn’t realise existed.

In 1976, when I first visited San Sebastian, the journey involved an overnight ferry and a two-day hitch-hike through France. For the past two decades, reaching San Sebastian has been much simpler: fly to either Biarritz in France or the de facto Spanish Basque capital of Bilbao. This summer, there are more options than ever, with British Airways returning to the Heathrow-Biarritz route.

The trip from Biarritz is fun - a walk, a main-line train and a narrow-gauge train - and takes about two hours. From Bilbao airport, coaches run frequently and directly to San Sebastian’s strange subterranean estacion de buses, taking about an hour. So the absence of flights to San Sebastian hasn’t exactly been a problem. But in any event, Air Nostrum - the regional airline affiliated with Iberia - proposes a solution to fill a perceived gap in the market.

I have flown on Air Nostrum, from Malaga to Bilbao, and it is not far off a private jet experience. The Luton-San Sebastian link uses a Canadair Regional Jet, with fewer than 50 passengers - about a quarter the capacity of the rival services to Bilbao and Biarritz. You might imagine this would help to justify a big premium for the new flights - as well, of course, as the fast access to San Sebastian's pintxo (Basque tapas) delights. In fact, Air Nostrum is selling at a discount. I priced a flight going out on the first flight on 26 July, back a week later. The fare was £111, compared with £115 on Ryanair on the same dates between Stansted and Biarritz. And the Spanish airline offers a free checked bag of 23kg - while the Irish carrier wants £80 return to carry a slightly smaller case. If you plan a summer trip to northern Spain and haven’t yet booked, you could grab a bargain.

Air Nostrum won’t be making a fortune on the route - this summer at least - but the airline is happy to dip a toe in the Bidassoa. The move helps the airline solve the problem of “What shall we do with our planes and pilots during the long weeks of summer, when the demand from business travellers to fly domestic short-hops dries up?” On Tuesdays, for example, the morning arrival from Madrid then turns around and heads north to Luton, returning in time to operate the late afternoon leg back to the Spanish capital. If the flight’s revenue can meet its direct operating costs then the accountants will be happy. As will the passengers. But don’t get too accustomed to it - when the price of fuel rises and/or the economy slows, experience suggests routes like this are the first to get shelved. Make the most of the Luton link while the sun shines on the crumpled shores of the Bay of Biscay.