-The airline will strengthen its 2023 operations in Greece by offering eight new routes in the market. In Athens, the airline will fly to 17 destinations and offer over 680,000 seats reaching a capacity 33% higher than in 2022.
–The company’s codeshare agreement with AEGEAN the leading Greek airline will grow to over 90 routes in 2023.
Volotea, the airline connecting small to mid-sized European cities, has announced its plans for expansion in Greece with eight new routes and strong growth plans for 2023.
Volotea will launch eight new routes this year to France, Italy, and Spain from key Greek airports: two routes from Athens to Toulouse and Cagliari, two routes from Santorini to Bilbao and Palermo, one route from Heraklion to Bordeaux, one route from Rhodes to Nantes, one route from Kalamata to Nantes, and Karpathos to Naples.
The airline’s largest operations are based out of Athens Airport, where it is poised to offer 17 destinations and increase its seat capacity by 33% in 2023. Volotea, which opened its base in Athens in 2018 with two aircraft (Airbus 319s with 156 seats each), is also the fastest-growing airline at Athens Airport thanks to its 3,800 flights currently on sale, representing a 23% increase vs 2023.
Carlos Muñoz, CEO and Founder of Volotea, added, “Our plans for this year show that our growth trajectory is stronger than ever, and we are committed to expanding our network across Europe, with Greece as a vital part of that strategy. We are very proud of our partnership with AEGEAN, the largest Greek airline whose values and priorities align closely with ours. We look forward to continuing our work together in our mutual commitment towards providing exceptional service and expanding connectivity at competitive prices.”
Valeria Rebasti, Country Manager Italy & Southeastern Europe of Volotea, said, “We are excited to continue our growth in the Greek market, especially in Athens. Thanks to the dedication of our great team of 80 people and the full collaboration of Athens Airport representatives and AEGEAN, our codeshare partners, we are confident in our ability to keep expanding and connecting even more passengers to Greece’s beauty and culture and helping more and more Greeks discover new cities all over Europe.”
Volotea will offer more than 680,000 seats (+33% vs 2022) at Athens Airport this year and more than 1.4 million seats to and from the whole of Greece (+ 12% vs 2022).
Ioanna Papadopoulou, Director of Communications & Marketing at Athens Airport, stressed, “Volotea has been an invaluable partner for Athens International Airport since 2015 when they commenced their highly successful operations to/from our city. Following the reinstatement of their Athenian base after the pandemic, we are now thrilled to be celebrating another two very important milestones; Volotea will operate their biggest ever network out of Athens during this Sumner Season, also introducing an exciting new destination, Cagliari, and, at the same time, their codeshare agreement with AEGEAN is producing great results, with additional routes and increased capacity this summer, substantially contributing to the enhancement of Athens’ connectivity and offering to the traveling public a plethora of options, both in the international and the domestic sectors.”
The airline’s presence in Greece continues to be strengthened by the codeshare agreement signed in 2021 with AEGEAN, the leading Greek airline. Thanks to this agreement, both airlines expand their network and offering to their passengers by offering an increased number of codeshare flights through their own sales channels. In 2023, 32 AEGEAN routes will be offered by Volotea, and 46 Volotea routes will be offered by AEGEAN, whereas by including 15 routes that are offered individually by both airlines, the total number will reach 90 routes.
Eftichios Vassilakis, Chairman of AEGEAN, said, “We are excited our codeshare agreement with Volotea, initiated two years ago is proving productive and we are expanding it by adding new routes and frequencies particularly ex France and Italy. Our cooperation with Volotea is based on the principle that even airlines with different products who are also competitors can cooperate if they share the same commitment to the customer to promote the efficiency of direct accessibility to our country. In 2023 AEGEAN will operate to 161 destinations in 46 countries with 264 direct routes and with 76 aircraft, 22 of which are the newly delivered Airbus 320/321 neo aircraft. Through our cooperation with Volotea, from our Athens International Airport hub, we multiply travel opportunities of our passengers even further”.
Overall, in 2023, Volotea will offer nearly 12 million seats and operate more than 400 routes in 16 countries in its entire network. All Volotea routes are available on the website, through the Volotea app, and all travel agencies.
ABOUT VOLOTEA
Volotea was founded in 2011 by Carlos Muñoz and Lázaro Ros, also previously founders of Vueling.
It is one of the fastest-growing independent airlines in Europe in the last decade, increasing its fleet, routes served, and seats offered year-on-year. This year, the airline has celebrated a milestone of carrying 50 million passengers throughout its whole network.
Volotea reaches more than 100 airports and is currently based in 19 medium-sized European capitals: Asturias, Athens, Bilbao, Bordeaux, Cagliari, Florence (new in 2023), Hamburg, Lille, Lyon, Lourdes, Marseille, Nantes, Naples, Olbia, Palermo, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Venice, and Verona.
This year, Volotea will operate more than 400 routes (with over half exclusive), offer close to 12M seats (+41% versus 2019), and fly approximately 70,000 flights. The airline operates a fleet of 41 Airbus A319 and A320.
Volotea is dedicated to sustainable aviation and has committed to reducing 50% of its CO2 emissions per passenger and kilometer by 2030 (versus 2012). To date, Volotea has launched over 50 sustainability initiatives that have already driven a reduction in carbon footprint per passenger and kilometer by 40%. Since 2022, the company has been working on developing emission-free alternative technologies, operating Airbus’ internal shuttle service with 34% of sustainable aviation fuel, and collaborating with manufacturers and the industry so that these fuels (now difficult to access) can be developed and become widespread as soon as possible.
Volotea employs 1,750 people and actively contributes to the economic development and cultural landscape of the territories where it is based through sponsorship projects.
Volotea has won, for the second year in a row, the award as ‘Europe’s Leading Low-Fares Airline’ at the 2022 World Travel Awards, an awards organization recognizing excellence in the transportation and tourism industry worldwide.
