As part of the renewal and expansion of its fleet, Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea will add six new Airbus A320s. With these additional aircraft, it expects to offer up to eleven million seats during 2022, 40% more than in 2019.
In 2021, the company replaced its Boeing 717s to complete a fleet composed entirely of Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft. While it had planned to make this unification in 2023, it brought forward its plans to improve operating costs in the short term and increase its network offering, with aircraft of greater capacity and flight range.
“As a European airline, we see Airbus as a long-term partner for our fleet”, said Carlos Munoz, company’s founder and CEO. “This year, following our strategy, we will continue to connect medium and small European cities, and we will launch our largest offering in the market, with more than eleven million seats for sale and the opening of two new bases in France”, he added.
Volotea currently operates flights to more than one hundred European destinations from its bases in Asturias, Bilbao, Athens, Hamburg, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Genoa, Naples, Olbia, Palermo, Cagliari, Venice and Verona.
The company focuses on point-to-point operations between cities that cannot be connected by car or train in less than six hours. More than half of its flights connect the mainland with islands such as Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily.
Voloterra program
The acquisition of the A320s is also part of “Voloterra”, the company’s sustainability program. Among its objectives are to develop alternative zero-emission technologies and work to improve air traffic efficiency. In addition, Volotea expects to start using sustainable fuels to power its aircrafts in 2022.
From 2021, Volotea offers the possibility of offsetting the carbon footprint when issuing a ticket. The additional sum of two euros is earmarked for emission mitigation projects, such as reforestation and forest conservation initiatives, transition to the use of renewable energy and energy generation from waste. It plans to offset 25% of its emissions by 2025.
“Since the company was founded, we have worked tirelessly to minimize carbon emissions, starting with a strategy of offering direct flights between cities not served by other airlines, without wasting fuel”, said Gloria Carreras, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability. “With this program we intend to go one step further, accelerating the transition to an increasingly cleaner and more sustainable aviation sector and a zero-emissions future”, she added.
