Slow trains bring the plane back to Madrid–Barcelona
SPAIN: Vueling will fly Barcelona–Madrid again from 5 October, with tickets on sale to 29 March 2027. The airline, part of International Airlines Group (IAG), left the route in March 2025, leaving Iberia as the only operator — and returns while speed restrictions keep the fastest trains above three hours.
October brings ten weekly flights, including double daily rotations from Monday to Thursday built for same-day business returns; from 31 October the schedule grows to eleven with a Saturday service.
Renfe, Iryo and Ouigo have agreed with infrastructure manager Adif to keep a speed reduction on the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed line in place until 13 December, adding around 25 minutes to the average journey. Non-stop services that once ran the corridor in two and a half hours now take more than three.
Exit and return
Vueling had flown Barcelona–Madrid for more than eight years when it withdrew. The absence lasted less than a year.
The airline reactivated the route from 9 to 22 February, while disruption hit high-speed services, and then extended flying through 29 March to absorb demand around the Goya awards, Mobile World Congress and Alimentaria.
The airline now cites sustained demand across the year, particularly from business travellers. Vueling holds around 40 per cent of the market at Barcelona El Prat.
Works on a live railway
Adif is modernising the line while keeping it in operation, and the corridor carries more than 30 separate speed limitations. The restrictions agreed with the three operators run to mid-December; the works programme extends beyond them.
Vueling’s flights are on sale into late March.
