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Volotea Signs €150 Loan Package With Eight Financial Institutions Backed by Spain’s ICO

Volotea announced on Tuesday the closing of a syndicated loan package valued at €150 million. The five year loan was underwritten by eight financial institutions led by Banco Santander and is backed by Spain’s Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO).


Volotea Airbus A319 - Courtesy Volotea

Yesterday (July 28, 2020), Volotea announced that they have raised €150 million through a syndicated five-year loan underwritten by eight financial institutions and backed by Spain’s Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO). The loan syndicate was led by Banco Santander and includes CaixaBank, Institito de Crédito Oficiel, Bankinter, Liberbank, BBVA, Ibercaja and Institut Catalá de Finances (ICF). The loan package backed by Spain’s ICO has been granted within the European Commission’s State Aid Temporary Framework adopted on March 19, 2020 to help mitigate the economic impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Volotea will use the funds for general business purposes. In Tuesday’s announcement, Volotea’s Founder and CEO, Carlos Muñoz said,


“I would like to thank all the banks involved, and I especially appreciate the support of ICO, ICF and the Ministry of Transport to carry out this operation, which is critical for the future of our company. The syndicated loan with eight financial institutions, Volotea’s closest banking partners, obtained after several months of negotiations, shows the confidence in the recovery capacity of Volotea, a company with an outstanding ability to grow and whose enormous flexibility is allowing it to face this hard crisis in the best possible conditions.”


Volotea has been profitable for the last five years and has one of the most efficient fixed to variable cost ratios in the commercial aviation sector. The loan funds will also strengthen the carrier in connection with an agreement signed with IAG last March to operate certain slots and routes in the context of IAG’s acquisition of Air Europa. Volotea resumed operations on June 16, 2020 with the launch of 40 new routes, including 15 exclusive routes, across Europe. In Spain, the carrier added 15 new domestic connections from its Asturias and Bilbao bases and added new airport operations at Santiago de Compostela and Grenada.


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, Lyon and Hamburg. To facilitate their rapid growth, the airline is currently recruiting for 200 available positions in France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Germany. Volotea expects to carry between 8.5 and 9.0 million passengers during 2020.


Source: Volotea

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