Athens, November 29th,
2017 - Volotea, the airline that
connects medium and small cities in Europe, announces the launch of a new base
in Athens. It will become the 12ndbase of the airlineand thefirst in
Greece. Additionally, Volotea enhances its offer from Athens with two new
destinations: Verona and Heraklion.
Volotea has
announced today the launch of its twelfth base in Athens. The airline will base
an aircraft in Athens airport. Volotea will start
recruiting pilots and cabin crews at the beginning of next year creating approximately30
direct new jobs in the capital.
Volotea will offer 320,000 seats, increasing its capacity
by 160%. The airline will operate two new routes to Verona (starting on May 31st
2018) and Heraklion (starting on April 26th 29018). Both routes arealready
on sale at the airline website, www.volotea.com and
through travel agents.Additional routes will be confirmed before the base is
launched on April 26th.
That new flight adds
up to the othersix destinations that Volotea already serves in Athens, where it
flies to four destinations in Italy (Venice, Bari, Genoa and Palermo) and to domestic
routes such as Santorini and Mykonos.
“Today we
are announcing Athens as a new base in our network. We are very pleased to be
so warmly welcome and we will be proud to enhance our services in Athens
creating jobs and hiring local staff”, comments Lázaro
Ros, Volotea’s Director General and
Co-founder. “This will boost our operations
in Greece. We are really excited also
to announce the newconnections from Athens airport. The routes to Verona and Heraklion will allow our clients to discover
these wonderful destinations, among the most charming ones in Italyand Greece.”
On behalf of
Athens International Airport, CEO Yiannis Paraschis stated: “We are very pleased to welcome Volotea’s
decision to launch a base in Athens International Airport, thus reinforcing
very dynamically its presence in the Athens market. After 2 ½ years of
consistent and successful operations in international and domestic
routes to / from Athens, we are now welcoming Volotea to Athens airport as
a home-based carrier. For this important step, a decision also complemented by
the addition of two new destinations of significant potential, we would like to
wish Volotea every success, and we remain committed to supporting the airline,
as all our airline partners, in its future developmental plans.”
Today, Volotea has
published a special promotion on its website in which passengers are able to
buy tickets from €9 during 48 hours to fly to the new destinations.
In 2018
Volotea will fly 293 routes among 78 European airportsin 13 countries, including: France, Italy, Spain, Germany,
Greece, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Albania, Portugal, Malta, Austria, Ireland
and Luxembourg.
Volotea’s Growth
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Volotea has
celebrated its fifth anniversary on April 5th 2017. In September,
Volotea has reached 14 millionth
passengers carried since its first flight in 2012.Volotea expects to carry more than4.7 million passengers this year.
Volotea operates
more than 44,000 flights fromnine basesin 2017: Venice, Nantes,
Bordeaux, Palermo, Strasbourg, Asturias, Verona, Toulouse and Genoa,in which it leads on number of
destinations (except in Toulouse). Volotea headcount is 875 employees this year
after adding 150 new positions to capitalize its growth in activity.
In 2018, Volotea will open
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, the Czech
Republic, Albania, Portugal, Malta, Austria, Ireland and Luxembourg. For 2018, new
bases in Bilbao and Marseille have just been announced. Volotea will also
create another 250 jobs next year.
Volotea will
operate its network with 32 aircraft next year, between Boeing 717s and Airbus
A319s. Both models are recognized for their comfort and reliability, with
Volotea offering reclining seats which are 5% wider than the average in
airlines.
The Airbus
A319 is the aircraft model selected for its future growth and will allow the
company to increase its passenger capacity by 20% to 150 seats and to serve
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.