Vueling Airlines
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Vueling Airlines | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| IATA VY |
ICAO VLG |
Callsign VUELING |
| Founded | 2004 | |
| Hubs | Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Seville | |
| Frequent flyer program | Punto | |
| Fleet size | 23 | |
| Destinations | 25 | |
| Headquarters |  Barcelona, Spain |
|
| Key people | Sue Smith (Founder) | |
| Website: http://www.vueling.com | ||
Vueling Airlines (BMAD: VLG) is a low-fare airline based in Barcelona, Spain. It serves destinations in Europe and the western Mediterranean. Its main base is Barcelona Airport, with additional hubs at Valencia Airport, Madrid Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle International Airport.
Contents |
[edit] History
Vueling was established in 2004 and commenced operations on 1 July 2004. The fleet consisted of two aircraft, serving the Barcelona-Ibiza route. The company first recorded a profit in December 2005, only 18 months after the start of operations.
Major shareholders of Vueling Airlines are Apax Partners (40%), Inversiones Hemisferio (Grupo Planeta) (30%), Equipo gestor (23%) and V.A. Investor (JetBlue Airways) (7%). During its nascent stages, the company's General Manager was Lázaro Ros, while Carlos Muñoz wasCEO. 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.
Although in 2006 Vueling was chosen as the third-best European low-fares airline, behind Air Berlin and easyJet,[1] it did not maintain this position in 2007.[2]
Vueling started restructuring in 2007-2008 to enhance profitability as the airline started to lose money and its owners were afraid that otherwise it might not survive in the fierce competition among European low-cost operators.[citation needed]
[edit] Destinations
- Further information: Vueling destinations
[edit] Fleet
The Vueling Airlines fleet consists of 24 Airbus A320-200 (as of February 2008) of which two examples are leased to Niki and Air Arabia (one each) [3], on average 2.1 years old.[4] Vueling has cancelled in early 2008 an order for 9 Airbus A320-200 aircraft, which were scheduled for delivery in 2008. It has also deferred delivery of 6 more aircraft until 2009 as part of its restructuring plan.[citation needed]
As of 3 June 2008, the average age of the Vueling Airlines fleet is 2.6 years ([1]).
