# Binter Canarias

Binter Canarias S.A. is the flag carrier of the Spanish autonomous community of the Canary Islands, based on the grounds of Gran Canaria Airport in Telde, Gran Canaria and Tenerife North Airport, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain. It is a regional air carrier operating inter-island services within the Canary Islands, and other Atlantic islands, it also operates to the Spanish Mainland and some European destinations, mainly in France and Italy. Affiliated airlines operate on behalf of Binter in services to Morocco, mainland Spain, Portugal.

## History
### Foundation and early years

The airline was established on 18 February 1988 and started operations on 26 March 1989. It was formed as a subsidiary of Iberia. Binter Canarias began operations as a regional airline and is currently the only one to operate in the eight airports of the Canaries. Binter also operates connections with Marrakech, Dakar, Aaiun in Africa; Madeira, and Lisbon in Portugal; Sal in Cape Verde; and Vigo and Mallorca in Spain. The airline also flies to the island of Madeira, serving the capital Funchal. Regular flights to the cities of Bergamo and Paris, were trialled but later cancelled as unsuccessful projects. Nowadays has regular flights to Lisbon and Cape Verde for renting technical crew and aircraft (CRJ) to Air Nostrum. The airline also serves Africa: it operates scheduled flights to Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco and Laayoune in Western Sahara, alongside charter flights to Nouadibou and Nouakchott in Mauritania.
In late 1999 SEPI (the Spanish state holding company of Iberia) implemented the privatisation of Binter Canarias, but held on to a "golden share", permitting it to authorise any future shareholding deal of more than 25%. However, the airline was wholly owned by Hesperia Inversiones Aéreas, which bought the airline in July 2002. In 2003 Binter Canarias, SAU was absorbed by Hesperia Inversiones Aéreas, SA, which took the name of Binter Canarias, SA. It is now owned by Ilsamar Tenerife (49.81%), Ferma Canarias Electrica (10.44%), Agencia Maritima Afroamericana (10.11%), Flapa (10%) and others (19.6%) and has 406 employees. Binter has sales offices, Binter Vende, at the airports and, since 2005, the ground support service has been provided by Atlántica Handling. Since January 2008 the technical service for Binter aircraft has been provided by BinterTechnic.

### Development since 2010

Some of the owners of Binter Canarias decided to buy Navegacion y Servicios Aéreos Canarios (NAYSA) and to transfer some planes from Binter to NAYSA in order to reduce costs and increase benefits. The airline also established Canarias Airlines as a low-fares subsidiary in 2011.
In 2016 the airline agreed a deal for a further six ATR 72-600 aircraft, bringing total commitments to the type to 18. They will replace ATR 72-500 aircraft. In spring 2018, Binter decided to merge Navegacion y Servicios Aéreos Canarios (NAYSA) into its own operations and therefore handed back NAYSA's air operator certificate. Since then, all former NAYSA operations are part of Binter's.
Since late 2017, Binter Cabo Verde took over inter-island flights in Cape Verde after the discontinuation of flights by TACV on 1 August 2017, as TACV was restructuring and privatising. Binter CV established a partnership covering TACV's international services, allowing TACV to offer connections to domestic destinations and seeking to strengthen inter-island connections. In 2019, Binter Cabo Verde was renamed as Transportes Interilhas de Cabo Verde (TICV) and, in 2021, the Canarian company sold its 70% stake in the airline to BestFly Worldwide, thus completing its divestment.
In June 2018 it began the domestic operation between Madeira and Porto Santo Islands in the northern neighboring Madeiran archipelago.
The airline's first of ten Embraer E195-E2 aircraft started passenger revenue service in December 2019 as the European launch customer.
In June 2023, Binter launched an additional subsidiary alongside Canarias Airlines. This subsidiary, Naysa Servicios Aéreos, uses the name of the former carrier which had been merged into Binter and Canarias Airlines in 2018.

## Destinations

As of August 2024, Binter Canarias serves the following destinations:
| Country (Region) | Destination | Airport | Notes |
| Cape Verde | Sal | Amílcar Cabral International Airport | |
| France | Lille | Lille Airport | |
| France | Marseille | Marseille Provence Airport | Terminated |
| France | Toulouse | Toulouse–Blagnac Airport | Terminated |
| Gambia | Banjul | Banjul International Airport | |
| Italy | Florence | Florence Airport | |
| Italy | Venice | Venice Marco Polo Airport | |
| Mauritania | Nouakchott | Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport | |
| Morocco | Agadir | Agadir–Al Massira Airport | |
| Morocco | Fez | Fès–Saïs Airport | |
| Morocco | Guelmim | Guelmim Airport | |
| Morocco | Marrakesh | Marrakesh Menara Airport | |
| Portugal | Madeira (Funchal) | Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport | |
| Portugal | Porto Santo | Porto Santo Airport | |
| Portugal | Ponta Delgada | João Paulo II Airport | |
| Spain (Canary Islands) | El Hierro | El Hierro Airport | |
| Spain (Canary Islands) | Fuerteventura | Fuerteventura Airport | |
| Spain (Canary Islands) | Gran Canaria | Gran Canaria Airport | Hub |
| Spain (Canary Islands) | La Gomera | La Gomera Airport | |
| Spain (Canary Islands) | La Palma | La Palma Airport | |
| Spain (Canary Islands) | Lanzarote | Lanzarote Airport | |
| Spain (Canary Islands) | Tenerife | Tenerife North Airport | Hub |
| Spain (Canary Islands) | Tenerife | Tenerife South Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | A Coruña | A Coruña Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Asturias (Oviedo) | Asturias Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Granada | Federico García Lorca Granada Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Ibiza | Ibiza Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Jerez | Jerez Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Madrid | Madrid–Barajas Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Menorca | Menorca Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Murcia | Región de Murcia International Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Palma de Mallorca | Palma de Mallorca Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Pamplona | Pamplona Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | San Sebastián | San Sebastián Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Santander | Seve Ballesteros–Santander Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Valladolid | Valladolid Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Vigo | Vigo–Peinador Airport | |
| Spain (Mainland and Balearic Islands) | Zaragoza | Zaragoza Airport | |
| Senegal | Dakar | Blaise Diagne International Airport | |
| Western Sahara | Laayoune | Hassan I Airport | |
| Western Sahara | Dakhla | Dakhla Airport | |

## Fleet
### Current fleet

As of January 2025, Binter Canarias operates the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes |
| ATR 72-500 | 1 | — | 68 | |
| ATR 72-600 | 26 | — | 72 | 14 operated by Canarias Airlines 12 operated by Naysa Servicios Aéreos |
| Embraer 195-E2 | 14 | 2 | 132 | Deliveries until 2025. |
| Total | 41 | 2 | | |

### Previous fleet

The Binter Canarias fleet has previously included the following aircraft:
* 26 ATR 72-202
* 1 Boeing 737-400 (leased from Futura International Airways)
* 8 Bombardier CRJ200 (leased from Air Nostrum)
* 3 Bombardier CRJ900 (leased from Air Nostrum)
* 3 Bombardier CRJ1000 (leased from Air Nostrum)
* 4 Douglas DC-9-30

## Accidents and incidents

* On 18 October 2016, an ATR 72-600 operated by NAYSA diverted to Gran Canaria Airport, Canary Islands, Spain, due to problems with the left hand main landing gear. The aircraft operated on a training flight, RSC001K, out of Tenerife-Norte Los Rodeos Airport. Upon returning to Tenerife, it was detected that one or both tires of the left hand main gear had burst or deflated. It was decided to divert to Las Palmas where the aircraft flew two low passes over runway 03L. A safe landing was then carried out at 12:22 UTC.