Volotea announced on Tuesday their first flight after three months of hibernation due to the Global COVID-19 pandemic. The carrier’s first flight was an Airbus Charter Service between Toulouse and Hamburg and Volotea will offer 274 routed for summer 2020.
Yesterday (June 16, 2020), Volotea announced the resumption of service for the first time in three months, with the start of their Airbus Charter Service between Toulouse and Hamburg. The service allows Airbus employees to commute between the manufacturer's two most important facilities with four daily flights. The carrier will also offer 274 routes for summer 2020 across all markets this summer. Volotea will restart operations in France from June 17th, Italy and Greece from June 18th and Spain from June 25, 2020. Of the 274 routes on offer this summer, 165 are domestic, 75 are new and 122 are exclusive. In Tuesday’s announcement, Volotea’s Founder and CEO, Carlos Muñoz said,
“For us, the Airbus Shuttle takeoff marks the first milestone after the Covid lockdown in our markets. We are now witnessing many positive signals that encourage travel and will allow people to fly on holidays safely this summer. At the same time, we have adapted fast to the new demand in terms of safety, offer and flexibility and are seeing how bookings are quickly growing every week. We are offering a completely new set of domestic routes, more frequencies and plenty of connections wit holiday destinations, especially to the islands. Europeans have been in lockdown for a long period, and now the desire to take a safe, well merited holiday is motivating lots of people to move ahead with life and temporarily postponed plans.”
Volotea is one of the fastest growing independent airlines in Europe and has carried over 25 million passengers since 2012. In 2020, the carrier is adding six Airbus A319s and 62 new routes, offering 354 short-haul city pairs from 96 small and medium-sized airports in 15 countries. Volotea has a fleet of 39 aircraft including 25 Airbus A319s and 14 Boeing 717s. The airline operates from 16 European bases in Venice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Palermo, Strasbourg, Asturias, Verona, Toulouse, Genoa, Bilbao, Marseille, Athens, Cagliari, Naples and Hamburg. Volotea is opening bases in Lyon and Naples in 2020.
Source: Volotea