This summer, four countries account for 93% of its capacity.
Revolving around connecting small and medium-sized European cities, Volotea has carried its 50 millionth passenger. It occurred on March 24th on a flight from Verona to Barcelona. The LCC took to the sky on April 5th, 2012. Almost exactly 11 years on, it has a fleet of 41 aircraft. Averaging 16.4 years, it has 21 A320s and 20 A319s, with its Boeing 717s long gone.
30th biggest airline serving Europe
According to the latest OAG data, Volotea has almost 8.8 million seats for sale this summer. That is its highest to date, surpassing last summer by 6% and pre-pandemic summer 2019 by a whopping 40%. It has 2.5 million more seats for sale than it did four years ago. Far from the top 10 airlines serving Europe, it ranks 30th.
Photo: Volotea.
While not as extreme as Allegiant in the US, Volotea focuses on the more popular travel days. This summer, it has 37% more capacity on its busiest day (Friday) than its quietest (Wednesday). Interestingly, the peak-trough gap has increased recently, up from 30% in summer 2019 and just 24% back in 2012.
102 airports are served
Volotea’s network comprises 102 airports in Europe and North Africa. Of these, Nantes (NTE) is its most served this summer, then Olbia (OLB), Marseille (MRS), Athens (ATH), and Lyon (LYS). It is NTE’s biggest carrier and has 52 routes from the airport.
Click here for NTE-Montpellier flights.
Image: GCMap.
Four countries have 93% of seats
Volotea will serve 16 countries this summer. Of these, a vast 66% of its capacity is to/from/within France and Italy. When Spain and Greece are added, the four have 93% of the total: 8.2 million of the almost 8.3 million. It is very much a southern European airline.
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It is also a massive domestic operator. Indeed, more than half (56%) of its capacity is deployed within domestic markets, and four of its top 10 markets are domestic, as shown below. It has an 11.3% share of the intra-France market and is the third-largest operator:
|
Market |
Summer 2023 seats |
Number of routes |
% of the market |
Volotea’s ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Domestic France |
1.9 million |
59 |
11.3% |
Third |
|
Domestic Italy |
1.6 million |
48 |
5.5% |
Fourth |
|
Domestic Spain |
982,000 |
38 |
2.7% |
Seventh |
|
France-Italy |
850,000 |
51 |
8.2% |
Fourth |
|
France-Spain |
788,000 |
50 |
6.5% |
Seventh |
|
Italy-Greece |
455,000 |
30 |
10.6% |
Fourth |
|
France-Greece |
427,000 |
28 |
13.4% |
Third |
|
France-Algeria |
425,000 |
9 |
10.0% |
Fourth |
|
Domestic Greece |
419,000 |
4 |
5.1% |
Fourth |
|
Italy-Spain |
232,000 |
12 |
1.7% |
Eighth |
What about Germany?
Being so driven by Southern Europe, Germany has barely featured in Volotea’s network. In summer 2019, it accounted for just 0.7% of the LCC’s capacity, with just four routes between Munich and France, Spain, and Greece.
It is somewhat different this year. Thanks to its significant new sales partnership with Eurowings, whereby both carriers will sell flights on each other’s websites, Volotea will now have nine routes using its own metal from Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, and Stuttgart.
Click here for Hannover-Toulouse flights.
Photo: kamilpetran I Shutterstock.
The changes mean that Volotea’s Germany capacity has increased from 47,000 roundtrip seats in summer 2019 to 62,000 now. But as the LCC has grown so strongly recently, Germany still represents just 0.7% of its capacity – not that that matters.
Have you flown Volotea? If so, share your experience in the comments.
Source: simpleflying.com
