Spanish low-cost airline Volotea announced on Friday that it would launch ten new routes for Christmas 2020 while at the same time increasing the number of flights to destinations it already serves. The Asturias Airport-headquartered airline will offer passengers a total of 143 routes over the Christmas period, including 60 routes exclusive to Volotea.

During the festive winter period, Volotea will increase the number of seats available by 33% compared to what it offered over the Christmas holidays in 2019. In a press release seen by Simple Flying, Volotea says that it plans to enhance its operations in France, Spain, and Italy by creating ten new routes. This will give Volotea 143 routes, 60 of which are exclusive to the airline.

The Christmas offer starts from December 17

In total, this will equate to more than half a million available seats. While calling itself the airline of mid- and small-sized European cities, the Christmas offer runs from December 17, 2020, until January 11, 2021.

Voltea flight attendant
The ten new routes are in France, Italy, and Spain. Photo: Volotea

The ten new connections which will each be operated twice a week are the following routes:

  • Lanzarote to Oviedo
  • Bilbao to Granada
  • Granada to Oviedo
  • Las Palmas to Oviedo
  • Lille to Nantes
  • Barcelona to Verona
  • Gerona to Paris
  • Luxembourg to Toulouse
  • Nantes to Perpignan
  • Lille to Perpignan

The last two are both Volotea summer routes that will be operated in the winter for the first time.

When speaking in the press release about the ramp-up in service Chief Commercial Officer of Volotea David Gonzalez said:

"We couldn't be happier to share this positive news by launching today our brand-new offer. As we did this summer, our aim is to enable our customers to better plan their winter travel and to help them reunite with their families and friends in the upcoming holidays or breaks. We have been working hard to offer our clients the best flight options by increasing our frequencies and creating new connections where necessary while maintaining the highest standards of Health and Safety so they can travel confidently with us."

About Volotea

Meaning to fly around in Spanish, Volotea is one of the fastest-growing independent European airlines increasing its fleet and routes yearly. Since its founding in 2012, Volotea has carried more than 25 million passengers and expects even with COVID-19 to carry between eight and a half to nine million passengers in 2020.

In 2020 Volotea added six Airbus A319-100s and 62 new routes for a total of 354 short-haul city pairings serving 96 airports in 15 countries. Despite being a Spanish airline, Voltea's central hub is at Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) in northern Italy. It also has bases at Nantes, Bordeaux, Palermo, Strasbourg, Asturias, Verona, Toulouse, Genoa, Bilbao, Marseille, Athens, Cagliari, Lyon, Naples, and Hamburg.

Volotea is a shuttle for Airbus employees

Its Hamburg base will act as a shuttle service for Airbus employees with four flights per day from Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport (XFW) to Toulouse–Blagnac Airport (TLS).

Voltea Airbus A319-100
Volotea fly four times a day between Hamburg and Toulouse for Airbus employees. Photo: Volotea

According to the aviation enthusiast website, Planespotters.net, Voloteas' fleet comprises the following aircraft:

  • 20 Airbus A319-100s
  • 14 Boeing 717-200s
  • Voltea has three Airbus A319-100s on order with Airbus

Volotea has taken a unique approach by serving smaller European cities that other airlines are not interested in linking.

Have you ever flown on Volotea, and if so, how do you rate them? Please let us know in the comments.