Clickair was a low-cost airline

Low-cost carrier

A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline is an airline that generally has lower fares and fewer comforts...

 that was based in the Parc de Negocis Mas Blau in El Prat de Llobregat

El Prat de Llobregat

El Prat de Llobregat , commonly known as El Prat, is a municipality in the comarca of Baix Llobregat inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated in the delta of the Llobregat river on the right bank, bordering the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between Barcelona and Viladecans. More than a quarter of the...

, near Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Clickair flew to nearly 40 destinations in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. The airline's main base was Barcelona International Airport

Barcelona International Airport

Barcelona El Prat Airport , simply known as Barcelona Airport, is located southwest of the center of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, lying in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans and Sant Boi.The airport is the second largest in Spain behind Madrid Barajas Airport and the...

 with bases at Málaga

Málaga

Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...

, Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

 and Valencia.

Clickair merged into Vueling Airlines

Vueling Airlines

Vueling Airlines SA , commonly shortened to Vueling, is an airline based in El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona , where it maintains its main operating base...

 on 15 July 2009.

Early Years

The company was first called Catair, derived from CAT (CATalonia) and AIR, but changed its name to Clickair just before starting operations. Catair Líneas Aéreas was the name of the holding company.

The airline started operations on 1 October 2006 with 3 Airbus A320

Airbus A320

The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...

 aircraft operating 5 routes from its Barcelona hub. The company was founded from initial capital investment from Cobra

Grupo ACS

Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. is a Spanish company dedicated to civil and engineering construction, all types services and telecommunications. It is one of the leading construction companies in the world, with projects in many countries around the world...

, Iberia

Iberia Airlines

Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A., commonly known as Iberia, is the flag carrier airline of Spain. Based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from its main bases of Madrid-Barajas Airport and Barcelona El Prat Airport....

, Iberostar, Nefinsa and Quercus Equity (Group Agrolimen), each with a 20% share, with Iberia setting up the airline. Although Iberia holds a 20% stake in the airline, it controls 80% of its economic rights. The company has plans for the operation of 30 Airbus A320

Airbus A320

The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...

s on 70 routes, carrying 10 million passengers a year by the end of 2008. Clickair's IATA code, XG was inherited from Gestair Cargo's retired passenger airline Regional Líneas Aéreas.

Vueling and Clickair Merger

In June 2008, Clickair and rival Spanish low cost airline Vueling announced their intention to merge. The merger was agreed because they wanted to make a single carrier better equipped to take out high fuel costs and fees, and both airlines were losing a lot of money. The merger would cause Clickair to cease operations because Vueling was to be the name of the new airline. The airline was to be based in Barcelona where both of the low cost airlines were based and were to keep its original hubs. Boss of Clickair Alex Cruz was also to be the chief executive of the airline.

On the 15th July 2009 the merger of Vueling and Clickair was completed. The new merged airline operates under the Vueling brand, with Clickair ceasing their operations. Since the merger, Vueling has become the second largest Spanish carrier flying 8.2 million passengers in 2009, to almost 50 destinations.

Inflight services

Clickair offered Clickbasics, which is a shopping and buy on board

Buy on board

In commercial flight, buy on board is a system where food or beverages are paid for on board; often food or beverages are not included in the ticket price for certain fare classes....

 programme for food, drinks, and other goods.

Fleet

The Clickair fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at 21 March 2009):

Clickair Fleet

Aircraft	Total	Passengers
Airbus A320-200	26	180

At 21 March 2009, the average age of the Clickair fleet was 10.2 years.

After ceasing operations, 20 of the 26 aircraft went to Vueling. The rest of the fleet went to Astraeus Airlines, Vertir Airlines

Vertir Airlines

Vertir Airlines is an airline based in Yerevan, Armenia, operating cargo services out of Zvartnots International Airport. The company was founded in 2009, and revenue flights were launched on 29 August 2010.-Fleet:...

 and Ural Airlines

Ural Airlines

Ural Airlines is an airline based in Yekaterinburg, Russia, operating scheduled and chartered domestic and international flights out of Koltsovo International Airport...

, with EC-GRE and EC-GRI being stored.

Aircraft orders

5 aircraft were planned to be introduced in 2008, however the airline scaled back its expansion plans and would add only one aircraft to the fleet during the year.

External links

• Clickair official website (Archive)
• Click Magazine inflight magazine (Archive)