Volotea
Airbus A319-112 taking off from Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport | |||||||
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Founded | 2011 | ||||||
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Commenced operations | 5 April 2012[1] | ||||||
Operating bases | |||||||
Frequent-flyer program | Megavolotea | ||||||
Fleet size | 45 | ||||||
Destinations | 79 | ||||||
Headquarters | Asturias Airport, Castrillón, Spain (registered office) | ||||||
Key people |
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Revenue | € 694 million (2023) | ||||||
Employees | 1,800 | ||||||
Website | www |
Volotea (Spanish:
History
Foundation and early years
Volotea was established by Alaeo S.L. from Barcelona, a company created by former Vueling founders, Carlos Muñoz and Lázaro Ros. The name "Volotea" originates from the Spanish verb "revolotear", meaning "to fly around".[4] It commenced operations on 5 April 2012, from Venice Marco Polo Airport.[5]
The company is backed by three private-equity funds, two of them from Europe (Axis Participaciones Empresariales and Corpfin Capital) and a third from the United States (CCMP Capital), whose chairman, Greg Brenneman, was one-time President and COO of the US airline Continental Airlines,[6] and also chairs Volotea's board. The company raised over €50m before operations began.[7] US CCMP Capital Partners holds 49% of voting rights; Axis and Corpfin Capital 25%; and Muñoz and Ros 26% along with relatives: this ownership has existed since foundation, but it could change before an initial public offering prior to 2021–2022.[8]
After studying the
Volotea opened 90 routes in its first year, of which 40 were closed within two years; it operated almost 300 routes in summer 2018 including 220 openings, and this could double to at least 500-600 across Europe. Volotea has been profitable since 2014, a turnover of €360 million ($431 million) is expected in 2018 after $347M in 2017, carrying 5.7 to 6 million passengers, 50% being leisure travellers, 35% visiting friends and relatives, and 15% business travellers.[8]
Due to the
Development since 2020
In January 2021, Volotea retired the last of its 19
In January 2022, Volotea announced the closure of its base at
In May 2023, Volotea and Eurowings signed a cooperation agreement with reciprocal sales of 150 routes.[22]
Corporate affairs
The key trends for Volotea are:[23]
Revenue (€m)[24] |
Number of employees |
Number of passengers (m)[25] |
Passenger load factor (%)[26] |
Number of routes |
Fleet size | References | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 396 | 6.5 | 93 | [27] | |||
2019 | 441 | 1,300 | 7.6 | 94 | 319 | 36 | [28] |
2020 | 192 | 1,120 | 3.8 | 90.7 | 285 | 36 | [29] |
2021 | 302 | 1,209 | 6.0 | 354 | 41 | [30] | |
2022 | 557 | 1,326 | 9.4 | 91 | 360 | 41 | [31] |
2023 | 694 | 1,800 | 10.4 | 410 | 44 | [32] | |
2024 | 811 | 2,000 | 11.4 | 450 | 45 | [33] |
Destinations
The focus of Volotea's route network is on destinations around the European side of the
Fleet

Current fleet
As of September 2024[update], Volotea operates the following aircraft:[36][37]
Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Airbus A319-100
|
20 | — | 138 | |
156 | ||||
Airbus A320-200
|
25 | — | 174 | |
180 | ||||
Total | 45 |
Historical fleet
Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Boeing 717-200
|
19 | 2012 | 2021 | Last European operator.[13] |
Award and recognition
On 24 June 2024, Volotea was voted 2024 Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe by Skytrax.[38]
References
- ^ Drum, Bruce (31 March 2012). "Volotea starts charter operations". Retrieved 21 February 2017.
- ^ "Conditions of carriage". Volotea. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
[...]registered address at Aeropuerto de Asturias, Santiago del Monte (Castrillón), 33459, Spain[...]
- ^ "About Volotea". Volotea. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
where you can find us Our offices Travessera de Gracia 56, 4ª. 08006 - Barcelona
- ^ Baigorri, Manuel. "New Carrier Volotea Sets Up In Barcelona, Base Of Failed Spanair." Bloomberg. 15 February 2012. Retrieved on 12 June 2012.
- anna.aero. 12 April 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2017.
- ^ "Right Away and All at Once: How We Saved Continental". In: Harvard Business Review on Crisis Management.
- ^ King, Amy (February 17, 2012). "CCMP, Axis and Corpfin back Volotea". unquote.com. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
- ^ a b c Clark, Oliver (23 May 2018). "INTERVIEW: Carlos Munoz, chief executive, Volotea". Flightglobal.
- ^ "Boeing, New European Airline Volotea Agree to 717 Leasing Deal". boeing.mediaroom.com. February 15, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
- ^ "Finland's Blue to offload B717 fleet to Volotea, Delta". Retrieved 21 February 2017.
- ^ "Volotea to phase out B717s in favour of A319s". ch-aviation.com. November 10, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
- ^ "Volotea traslada su sede social de Barcelona a Asturias, donde tiene su única base en España" [Volotea moves its headquarters from Barcelona to Asturias, where it has its only base in Spain]. www.europapress.es (in Spanish). Europa Press. 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
- ^ a b Macca, Marco (2021-01-11). "Volotea: The End of The Boeing 717 in Europe". Airways Magazine. Retrieved 2021-01-11.
- ^ "Continuità, rotte a Volotea - Regione Autonoma della Sardegna". www.regione.sardegna.it. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
- ^ a b "Volotea batte Ita e si aggiudica voli agevolati Sardegna - Sardegna". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 2021-10-13. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
- ^ "Volotea Wins Territorial Continuity for the Sardinian Routes". 14 October 2021.
- ^ aviacionline.com 29 January 2022
- ^ "Aerei:Sardegna,in estate con Volotea solo Cagliari-Fiumicino - Sardegna". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 2022-03-22. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
- ^ Madeddu, Davide (2022-03-24). "Ita Airways pronta ai voli in continuità territoriale". Il Sole 24 ORE (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-04-19.
- ^ "Aerei: sfida sui cieli sardi tra Ita e Volotea, che rilancia - Sardegna". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 2022-03-28. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
- ^ "Volotea: Munoz, con Ita divisi voli Cagliari e Olbia al 50% - Sardegna". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 2022-04-06. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
- ^ "Volotea and Eurowings sales partnership signed". Volotea. 2023-06-09. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
- ^ "Corporate Social Responsibility at Volotea". Volotea. 2023-10-04. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
- ^ "Volotea: turnover 2016-2020". Statista. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
- ^ "Volotea: passenger traffic 2015-2020". Statista. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
- ^ "Volotea: passenger load factor 2017-2020". Statista. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
- ^ "Non financial information report Volotea 2018" (PDF). Volotea. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
- ^ "Non financial information report Volotea 2019" (PDF). Volotea. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
- ^ "Non financial information report Volotea 2020" (PDF). Volotea. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
- ^ "Non financial information report Volotea 2021" (PDF). Volotea. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
- ^ "Non financial information report Volotea 2022" (PDF). Volotea. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
- ^ "VOLOTEA REPORTS". Volotea. 11 July 2024. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
- ^ "Volotea surpassed 148m. euros in EBITDA and 11m. euros in revenue in 2024". traveldailynews. 25 February 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
- ^ "Destinations". Volotea. 2020-11-17. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
- ^ "Volotea ouvre un Nantes – Tanger" [Volotea opens a Nantes - Tangier]. air-journal.fr (in French). 12 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
- ^ "Volotea Airline Information". ch-aviation.com. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
- ^ XLS file accessed via "Airbus Orders & Deliveries". Airbus. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ [email protected] (2024-06-24). "Qatar Airways World's Best Airline at 2024 World Airline Awards". SKYTRAX. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
External links
Media related to Volotea at Wikimedia Commons