The airline plans to increase its capacity at the airport by 23% compared to 2023 and 142% compared to its base opening in 2018, reaching over 835,000 available seats.
In Greece, the company will expand its 2024 capacity by 13% compared to 2023, providing over 1.6 million seats within the country and introducing five new international routes from Greek destinations, including Kalamata and the islands of Corfu and Rhodes.
Volotea, the airline connecting small and mid-sized European cities, has shared its strong 2023 performance and ambitious plans for 2024 in Athens. Looking ahead to the next year, the company is set to offer a historic capacity of over 835,000 seats, reflecting a 23% growth from 2023 and a substantial 142% increase compared to 2018, when it first opened the Greek base. The airline also plans to add three new routes from Athens Airport, including new international connections to Naples, Split, and Brest, with the latter recently announced as Volotea’s 20th operational base.
In 2024, Volotea will expand its offering to include 20 routes departing from Athens Airport, connecting the city and travelers to five European countries. The airline will continue to provide direct access to popular destinations like Bilbao, Bordeaux, Bari, Cagliari, Dubrovnik, Heraklion, Mykonos, Santorini, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Palermo, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Venice, and Verona while adding three new routes to further enhance connectivity. The new routes will link Athens Airport with Naples, where it will offer more than 23,600 seats on 132 flights, with two weekly frequencies, on Thursdays and Sundays; Split, with an offer of approximately 12,850 seats on 148 flights, with two weekly frequencies, on Wednesday and Sundays; and Brest, making available over 20,000 seats on more than 100 flights, with two weekly frequencies, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The airline will maintain its fleet of two aircraft at the base, ensuring stable local job opportunities with a staff of 80 direct employees and over 450 indirect employees for the upcoming year.
The company also reviewed its 2023 performance, marking its fifth anniversary as a base in Athens. During this milestone year, Volotea celebrated reaching the 2 million passenger mark in August since starting operations at the airport in 2015. From January to October this year, Volotea has operated over 4,200 flights from Athens, a 32% increase compared to the same period in the previous year, including new connections to Toulouse and Cagliari. During this ten-month period, Volotea has transported approximately 600,000 passengers to and from Athens, marking a 20% increase compared to the previous year and an impressive 99% growth compared to 2018, when the company first established its Greek base. In addition, the airline’s year-to-date occupancy rate of 95% at Athens Airport reflects the operation’s success and the trust travelers have in Volotea as a preferred airline, further underscored by the company’s customer recommendation rate, which exceeds 90%, particularly among members of its loyalty program, Megavolotea.
“As we celebrate five years since the opening of our Athens base and reflect on our successful 2023 performance, we are thrilled to share our ambitious plans for 2024. With a historic capacity offer of over 835,000 seats and the introduction of three new routes, we are positioned for further growth, solidifying our presence and impact in the region. Our commitment extends beyond flights; we are dedicated to creating opportunities and fostering local talent, which is why we are happy to confirm that we will maintain our two aircraft at the base. We extend our thanks to Athens Airport and our dedicated local staff for their support throughout this year. Looking ahead to 2024, we are excited to continue connecting even more passengers from Athens to exciting new destinations at competitive prices,” said Valeria Rebasti, International Market Director Italy, Greece, Germany & Southeastern Europe of Volotea.
Volotea has been a valuable partner for Athens International Airport since 2015, when it first started its highly successful routes to/from our city! Additionally, the launch of the base in Athens five years ago has been a significant ‘success story’, continuing to produce excellent results for the airline, our airport, our city, and of course our passengers! Next year, Volotea will connect Athens with its largest ever network, adding three exciting destinations: Naples, Brest, and Split, offering the traveling public a plethora of options, both internationally and domestically. On our part, we are moving forward together with our airline partner, and we are committed to being by their side as they continue to develop with the same success from the Athens market!” added Ioanna Papadopoulou, Director of Communications & Marketing at Athens Airport.
The airline also celebrated the ongoing success of its partnership with Aegean Airlines, which was established in 2021. The collaboration between the two airlines expanded significantly this year, with the number of codeshare flights expanding to 95. Out of these, 34 are operated by Volotea, 46 by Aegean, and 15 are overlapping, available through both airlines’ sales channels. The agreement is one of three strategic partnerships Volotea has with leading European airlines, including TAP Portugal and, most recently, Eurowings, the domestic carrier under the German Lufthansa Group, further strengthening the airline’s position in international markets.
Since 2012, Volotea has firmly established itself in Greece, currently operating across an extensive network of 13 Greek airports, encompassing Athens, Cefalonia, Corfu, Heraklion/Crete, Kalamata, Karpathos, Mykonos, Preveza/Lefkada, Rhodes, Santorini, Skiathos, Thessaloniki, and Zakynthos. Throughout 2023, the company has experienced substantial growth in the market, introducing eight new routes connecting key Greek airports to domestic and international destinations, such as Athens to Toulouse and Cagliari, Santorini to Bilbao and Palermo, Heraklion to Bordeaux, Rhodes to Nantes, Kalamata to Nantes, and Karpathos to Naples. From January to October 2023, the airline facilitated travel for over 1.2 million passengers to and from the country, with 47% of this passenger volume linked to Athens Airport.
In 2024, the company plans to offer over 1.6 million seats in the country, a 13% increase compared to 2023, and introduce, on top of the new Athens routes, five new routes from Greek destinations, connecting Corfu, Kalamata, and Rhodes to Lille, as well as Kalamata and Rhodes to Lyon.
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