Vueling Airlines
Encyclopedia
Vueling Airlines SA commonly shortened to Vueling, is an airline based in El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona
(Spain
), where it maintains its main operating base. There are seven additional bases at Amsterdam, Bilbao
, Madrid, Málaga
, Seville
, Toulouse and Valencia
.
Vueling serves destinations in Europe
and the western Mediterranean
.
. The initial fleet consisted of two Airbus A320
aircraft, based in Barcelona serving Paris, Brussels
, Palma
and Ibiza.
Initially, major shareholders of Vueling Airlines were Apax Partners
(40%), Inversiones Hemisferio (Grupo Planeta) (30%), Vueling's management team (23%) and V.A. Investor (JetBlue Airways
) (7%). During its nascent stages, the company's general manager was Lázaro Ros, while Carlos Muñoz was CEO. In November 2007, Vueling appointed managing director of Spanair
Lars Nygaard as CEO to replace Carlos Muñoz, who remained as a member of the Board of Directors.
Madrid was added as the airline's second base in 2005, followed by their first base outside Spain at Paris Charles de Gaulle in 2007. Seville
followed in December 2007.
This led to Barbara Cassani
, former Chief Executive of UK low-cost airline Go Fly
, joining Vueling as chairman of the board in September 2007. The airline then embarked on a restructuring exercise and posted its first profit in mid-2009. The Paris base was also closed so that the airline could concentrate on the Spanish market.
announced their intention to merge. The merger was designed to create a carrier better able to compete in the competitive Spanish airline market and mitigate high fuel costs. Iberia was the main partner in the agreement, while the new company would trade under the Vueling name with Clickair's Alex Cruz was named as chief executive.
The deal was subject to scrutiny and approval by European competition regulators, who were concerned that the merged airline would have a significant competitive advantage on around 19 routes. The regulators demanded the release of slots at Barcelona and other European airports as a condition of the merger.
On the July 15, 2009 the merger of Vueling and Clickair
was completed. The new merged airline operates under the Vueling brand, with Clickair flights and aircraft re-branded under the Vueling name. It became the second largest Spanish carrier flying 8.2 million passengers in 2009, to almost 50 destinations. Vueling flew more than 11 million passengers in 2010.
In January 2011 it was announced that Vueling were to add a further nine aircraft to their fleet during 2011, including an Airbus A319. Six Airbus A320s will be delivered between April and June 2011, whilst the remaining two A320s will be delivered by the end of 2011. The A319 was supposed to be delivered at the end of 2011, but it was delivered in April 2011. Those extra aircraft will be used in order to increase the Madrid base, with some destinations being added, including Warsaw and Bucharest-Otopeni.
, near Barcelona
. Prior to the merger the airline had its head office in Edificio Muntadas C in Parque de Negocios Mas Blau.
for the summer season. Two of Vueling's A320's (EC-KDG and EC-KDH) were transformed into MTV liveries with some MTV style inside too. The designs of the two A320's were created by Custo Barcelona. As of May 2010, the aircraft are back in their original livery.
In the summer season of 2010, EC-KDG has once again been transformed into an MTV livery.
.
On August 2010, Vueling announced plans to add six aircraft over 2011, which would take the fleet size to 48 planes. Vueling also announced its intention to explore switching to a Boeing 737
fleet.
Some Vueling aircraft have been given a name. The one registered
EC-KBU, for instance, is called “Be Vueling my friend”, EC-KCU sports a “My name is Ling. Vue Ling” and the A319 is “Un Vueling s’il-vous-plaît” (Fr.
for “A Vueling, please”).
) to Alicante
(Spain
), with 169 passengers on board, an Airbus A320-200 in Clickair
livery (registration EC-ICQ) was being pushed back. Then the right-hand CFM56 engine started to emit black smoke. Emergency services responded and arrived within 2 minutes, and the crew initiated an evacuation via slides. The engine fire was quickly put out. In spite of only eight passengers receiving minor injuries in the evacuation, the cabin-crew's panicky reaction was criticised. Neither the airport installations nor the other surrounding aircraft were damaged, but Vueling aircraft remained unusable. A replacement Airbus A320-200 (registration EC-KMI) reached Alicante with a delay of 4.5 hours.
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...
), where it maintains its main operating base. There are seven additional bases at Amsterdam, Bilbao
Bilbao Airport
Bilbao Airport is a public airport located north of Bilbao, in the municipality of Loiu, in the Basque Country. It is the most important airport of the Basque Country and northern Spain, with 4,172,903 passengers on 2008...
, Madrid, Málaga
Málaga Airport
Málaga Airport , also known as Malaga Costa Del Sol Airport and Pablo Ruiz Picasso Airport, is the fourth busiest airport in Spain after Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. It is an important airport for Spanish tourism as it is the main international airport serving the Costa Del Sol....
, Seville
San Pablo Airport
- Statistics :Passenger numbers and operations since 2000:- External links :** - Official Airport Website - Statistics :Passenger numbers (in thousands) and operations since 2000:- External links :** - Official Airport Website - Statistics :Passenger numbers (in thousands) and operations since...
, Toulouse and Valencia
Valencia Airport
Valencia Airport in Manises , also known as Manises Airport, is the 8th busiest Spanish airport in terms of passengers and second in the region after Alicante. It is situated west of the city of Valencia. The airport has flight connections to about 15 European countries and 4.9 million passengers...
.
Vueling serves 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...
and the western Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
.
Early years
Vueling was established in February 2004 and commenced operations on 1 July 2004 with a flight between Barcelona and IbizaIbiza Airport
Ibiza Airport is the airport serving the Balearic islands of Ibiza and Formentera in Spain, used by 95% of all people who arrive at or depart from these two islands...
. The initial fleet consisted of two 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, based in Barcelona serving Paris, Brussels
Brussels Airport
Brussels Airport is an international airport northeast of Brussels, Belgium. The airport is partially in Zaventem and partially in the Diegem area of Machelen, both located in the Flemish Region of Belgium.Brussels Airport currently consists of 54 contact gates, and a total of 109 gates...
, Palma
Palma de Mallorca Airport
Palma de Mallorca Airport is an airport located east of Palma, Majorca, adjacent to the village of Can Pastilla. Also known as Son Sant Joan Airport or Aeroport de Son Sant Joan, it is the third largest airport in Spain, after Madrid's Barajas Airport and Barcelona Airport...
and Ibiza.
Initially, major shareholders of Vueling Airlines were Apax Partners
Apax Partners
Apax Partners LLP is a global private equity and venture capital firm, headquartered in London. The company also operates out of eight other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel-Aviv, Madrid, Stockholm, Milan and Munich. The firm, including its various predecessors, have raised...
(40%), Inversiones Hemisferio (Grupo Planeta) (30%), Vueling's management team (23%) and V.A. Investor (JetBlue Airways
JetBlue Airways
JetBlue Airways Corporation is an American low-cost airline. The company is headquartered in the Forest Hills neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. Its main base is John F. Kennedy International Airport, also in Queens....
) (7%). During its nascent stages, the company's general manager was Lázaro Ros, while Carlos Muñoz was CEO. In November 2007, Vueling appointed managing director of Spanair
Spanair
Spanair is a Spanish airline, with its head office in the Spanair Building in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona. It was, until 2009, a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines, which now holds slightly under 20% of the company. Spanair provides a scheduled passenger network within Spain and...
Lars Nygaard as CEO to replace Carlos Muñoz, who remained as a member of the Board of Directors.
Madrid was added as the airline's second base in 2005, followed by their first base outside Spain at Paris Charles de Gaulle in 2007. Seville
San Pablo Airport
- Statistics :Passenger numbers and operations since 2000:- External links :** - Official Airport Website - Statistics :Passenger numbers (in thousands) and operations since 2000:- External links :** - Official Airport Website - Statistics :Passenger numbers (in thousands) and operations since...
followed in December 2007.
Financial concerns and management re-shuffle
2007 was a difficult year for Vueling; Apax Partners sold their then 21% stake in the carrier in June of that year, followed by two profit warnings issued in August and October. Two company directors and the chairman resigned shortly before the second profit warning, citing differences over commercial strategy. Shares in the company were also temporarily suspended.This led to Barbara Cassani
Barbara Cassani
Barbara Ann Cassani, CBE, is an American businesswoman. She was the founder under British Airways of budget airline Go Fly and was the first leader of London's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.-Personal life:...
, former Chief Executive of UK low-cost airline Go Fly
Go Fly
Go Fly was the name of an award-winning British airline. It was purchased by EasyJet.-History:Bob Ayling, ex-chief of British Airways, approached EasyJet's founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, to ask whether he could visit claiming that he was fascinated by how the Greek entrepreneur had made the budget...
, joining Vueling as chairman of the board in September 2007. The airline then embarked on a restructuring exercise and posted its first profit in mid-2009. The Paris base was also closed so that the airline could concentrate on the Spanish market.
Vueling and Clickair merger
In June 2008, Vueling and rival Spanish low cost airline ClickairClickair
Clickair was a low-cost airline that was based in the Parc de Negocis Mas Blau in El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona, Spain. Clickair flew to nearly 40 destinations in Europe...
announced their intention to merge. The merger was designed to create a carrier better able to compete in the competitive Spanish airline market and mitigate high fuel costs. Iberia was the main partner in the agreement, while the new company would trade under the Vueling name with Clickair's Alex Cruz was named as chief executive.
The deal was subject to scrutiny and approval by European competition regulators, who were concerned that the merged airline would have a significant competitive advantage on around 19 routes. The regulators demanded the release of slots at Barcelona and other European airports as a condition of the merger.
On the July 15, 2009 the merger of Vueling and Clickair
Clickair
Clickair was a low-cost airline that was based in the Parc de Negocis Mas Blau in El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona, Spain. Clickair flew to nearly 40 destinations in Europe...
was completed. The new merged airline operates under the Vueling brand, with Clickair flights and aircraft re-branded under the Vueling name. It became the second largest Spanish carrier flying 8.2 million passengers in 2009, to almost 50 destinations. Vueling flew more than 11 million passengers in 2010.
Recent developments
In November 2010, Vueling announced a new base at Toulouse Airport in France from April 2011, followed in December 2010 by the announcement of a new base in Amsterdam, also to open during April 2011. The Toulouse base opened on 23 April 2011.In January 2011 it was announced that Vueling were to add a further nine aircraft to their fleet during 2011, including an Airbus A319. Six Airbus A320s will be delivered between April and June 2011, whilst the remaining two A320s will be delivered by the end of 2011. The A319 was supposed to be delivered at the end of 2011, but it was delivered in April 2011. Those extra aircraft will be used in order to increase the Madrid base, with some destinations being added, including Warsaw and Bucharest-Otopeni.
Corporate affairs
The airline has its head office in the Parque de Negocios Mas Blau II in El Prat de LlobregatEl 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...
. Prior to the merger the airline had its head office in Edificio Muntadas C in Parque de Negocios Mas Blau.
Cooperation with MTV
In 2009, Vueling for the second year cooperated with MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
for the summer season. Two of Vueling's A320's (EC-KDG and EC-KDH) were transformed into MTV liveries with some MTV style inside too. The designs of the two A320's were created by Custo Barcelona. As of May 2010, the aircraft are back in their original livery.
In the summer season of 2010, EC-KDG has once again been transformed into an MTV livery.
Frequent flyer programme
Vueling's frequent flyer programme is called Punto (Spanish for 'point'). It allows frequent fliers to collect points when they fly which can then be redeemed for Vueling flights, excluding fees and taxes which must still be paid by the passenger. Punto members may also collect points through a Vueling credit cardCredit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
.
Destinations
Executives
- Chairman: Josep Piqué
- Company Secretary: Pedro Farreras
- Chief Executive: Alex Cruz
- Chief Financial & Corporate Officer: Antonio Grau
- Chief Operating Officer: Luís Gallego
- Chief Marketing Officer: Lluís Pons
- Chief Sales Officer: Juan Carlos Iglesias
- Chief Strategy Officer: Silvia Mosquera
Fleet
As of December 2011, the Vueling Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 9.1 years:| Aircraft | In Service | Passengers (Economy) |
|---|---|---|
| Airbus A319-100 | 1 | 144 |
| Airbus A320-200 | 50 | 180 |
| Total | 51 | |
On August 2010, Vueling announced plans to add six aircraft over 2011, which would take the fleet size to 48 planes. Vueling also announced its intention to explore switching to a Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
fleet.
Some Vueling aircraft have been given a name. The one registered
Aircraft registration
An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
EC-KBU, for instance, is called “Be Vueling my friend”, EC-KCU sports a “My name is Ling. Vue Ling” and the A319 is “Un Vueling s’il-vous-plaît” (Fr.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for “A Vueling, please”).
Accidents and incidents
On 5 August, 2009, Vueling Airlines Flight VY9127, from Paris-Orly (FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) to Alicante
Alicante Airport
Alicante Airport , , originally named El Altet, is the sixth busiest airport in Spain, and the main airport for the Province of Alicante and the Region of Murcia. The airport is situated southwest of Alicante and east of Elche in the municipality of Elche on Mediterranean coast. Up to eighty...
(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...
), with 169 passengers on board, an Airbus A320-200 in Clickair
Clickair
Clickair was a low-cost airline that was based in the Parc de Negocis Mas Blau in El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona, Spain. Clickair flew to nearly 40 destinations in Europe...
livery (registration EC-ICQ) was being pushed back. Then the right-hand CFM56 engine started to emit black smoke. Emergency services responded and arrived within 2 minutes, and the crew initiated an evacuation via slides. The engine fire was quickly put out. In spite of only eight passengers receiving minor injuries in the evacuation, the cabin-crew's panicky reaction was criticised. Neither the airport installations nor the other surrounding aircraft were damaged, but Vueling aircraft remained unusable. A replacement Airbus A320-200 (registration EC-KMI) reached Alicante with a delay of 4.5 hours.