The airline has increased by more than three times its number of passengers, thanks to the base launch and the new routes opened.
Volotea has achieved an average 93% seat load in the first semester in flights to eight destinations from Athens.
Volotea launched a new base in Athens this year, inaugurated on May 3rd. The base opening allows a Boeing 717 aircraft to be permanently based in Athens, 30 local people recruited to run operations and a reinforcement of its commercial offer with two new routes which have reinforced the six destinations already operated.
From the beginning of this year, Volotea has carried 100,000 passengers, multiplying by more than three times its passengers in comparison to same period of the previous year. Volotea has achieved an average 93% seat load in this first half of 2018. Regarding the performance in the two new routes launched in May 2018, Heraklion and Verona, the airline has achieved a successful average seat load of 94% and 88%, respectively.
Volotea is announcing today that its routes to Santorini, Heraklion, Mykonos and Venice will be operated all through the winter season with frequencies between three and four times a week.
Volotea currently serves from Athens a line-up of eight destinations: three domestic routes (Santorini, Mykonos and Heraklion) and five destinations in Italy (Venice, Bari, Genoa, Palermo and Verona). The schedule and the seat load performance is as follows:
- Santorini: daily flights and 96% seat load.
- Venice: 3 flights per week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and 95% seat load.
- Heraklion: daily flights and 94% seat load.
- Genoa: 2 flights per week, on Mondays and Fridays, and 94% seat load.
- Bari: 2 flights per weeks, on Mondays and Fridays, and 93% seat load.
- Mykonos: daily flights and 90% seat load.
- Verona: 2 flights per week, on Thursdays and Sundays, and 88% seat load.
- Palermo: 1 flight per week on Fridays and 83% seat load.
“We are proud of the positive results of Volotea during the first six months of 2018 in our base of Athens. Launched last May, the base shows excellent results in this first stages. We are pleased to see our development in operations thanks to our 30 people team, a Boeing 717 and the full collaboration of Athens Airport representatives” said Carlos Muñoz, Founder and CEO of Volotea.
““Following Volotea’s decision last May to continue growing in Athens by launching a new base, we are indeed very pleased with the airline’s very positive performance. Our passengers enjoy a wide new range of quality travelling options in both the domestic and international sectors and our city’s connectivity has been enhanced. We will continue to closely cooperate with our airline partner, aiming at its further expansion and development”, stressed Yiannis Paraschis, the CEO of Athens International Airport
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Volotea’s Growth |
Volotea has carried 18 million passengers since its first flight in 2012, and over 4.8 million in 2017 alone.
In 2018, Volotea has opened 58 new routes to serve a lineup of 293 routes, operating flights to 78 mid and small-sized European cities in 13 countries: France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic, Albania, Portugal, Malta, Austria, Ireland and Luxembourg. The airline expects to carry between 5.7 and 6 million passengers in 2018.
Volotea currently operates from twelve bases: Venice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Palermo, Strasbourg, Asturias, Verona, Toulouse, Genoa, Bilbao, Marseille and Athens. These last three have been inaugurated recently in 2018.
Volotea currently employs 875 people, and plans on creating 250 new jobs in 2018 to capitalize on its growth in activity.
In 2018, Volotea operates its network with 32 aircraft, Boeing 717s and Airbus A319s. Both models are recognized for their comfort and reliability, and Volotea offers reclining seats 5% wider than the average on other airlines.
The Airbus A319 is the aircraft model selected for Volotea’s future growth, allowing the company to increase its passenger capacity by 20% up to 150 seats, as well as serving longer routes.
The airline has been selected by TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice 2017 as the best airline based in France, Italy and Spain in the “Europe Regional and Low Cost” category.
