Spanish carrier Volotea is aiming to add three or four aircraft to its fleet in 2024 as it looks to continue on a growth trajectory that has powered it significantly beyond its pre-Covid offering.
The privately owned airline outlined its plans for the coming year on 30 January, alongside an initial review of its performance in 2023, when it achieved revenue of “around €700 million ($758 million)” and “historic financial margins for a company with just over 10 years of existence”. That revenue estimate compares with reported figures of €557 million in 2022 and €441 million in the last pre-pandemic year, 2019.
Volotea is yet to provide more detail on its financial performance in 2023, including its profitability. In August last year it reported a net loss of €138 million for 2022, citing a significant rise in costs, notably including jet fuel.
The carrier notes that it operated “an extensive network of over 410 routes” during 2023, “with more than 50% exclusively operated by the carrier”. It is aiming to increase that network to 450 routes this year – with a continued focus on more than half of those being exclusive to Volotea – while offering between 12.5 million and 13 million seats, which equates to a rise of 12-16% year on year.
It says it carried 10.3 million passengers in 2023, compared with 9.4 million in 2022 and 7.6 million in 2019.
The addition of three or four aircraft – Airbus A319s and/or A320s – would bring its fleet to around 45 units from 41 today and around 36 in 2019. Its current fleet is split roughly 50:50 between A319s and A320s.
Volotea says it plans to add two bases this year – Bari and Brest – to its current slate of 19 bases, which are: Asturias, Athens, Bilbao, Bordeaux, Cagliari, Florence, Hamburg, Lille, Lyon, Lourdes, Marseille, Nantes, Naples, Olbia, Palermo, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Venice and Verona.
A key part of Volotea’s network strategy is providing point-to-point services from secondary cities in Europe on routes not flown by larger carriers.
It completed the phase-out of its Boeing 717s during the pandemic as it switched to an all-Airbus operation, as part of a fleet strategy focused on taking previous-generation second-hand jets through lessors.
