Page 41 - Aviation News (February 2020)
P. 41

Despite not being the airline’s fi rst Airbus, ‘Airbus One’, A319 EI-FML, also
             carries the Italian slogan ‘Mamma, Arrivo Subito!’ which means ‘Mother,
             I’ll be home for dinner!’. It was re-registered EC-MUT in 2018. Volotea















































                                                                                    Above: A Volotea 717 at Santorini. The low-
                                                                                    cost carrier fl ies to the Greek island from Bari,
                                                                                    Bordeaux, Genoa, Marseille, Nantes, Naples,
                                                                                    Palermo, Toulouse, Venice and Verona.
                                                                                    AirTeamImages.com/Carlos Enamorado
                                                                                    Left: Volotea A319, EC-MTF, gets airborne
                                                                                    from Skiathos, one of 13 airports in Greece
                                                                                    to which the airline fl ies. In 2020, it will have
                                                                                    three aircraft based in Athens. AirTeamImages.
                                                                                    com/Markus Mainka
                                                                                    opening, Volotea has carried 360,000
                                                                                    passengers across ten routes from Athens,
                                                                                    and the airline has been recognised as the
                                                                                    fastest-growing carrier at the airport. To
                                                                                    support this expansion, a third aircraft will
                                                                                    be added for 2020.
                                                                                       Volotea will also be taking up demand
                                                                                    left unfi lled by the collapse of Greek airline
                                                                                    Astra Airways in November. Muñoz said:
                                                                                    “They were a small airline, but they were
                                                                                    present in some of our Greek domestic
                                                                                    markets, so we will be able to fi ll the albeit
                                                                                    small void left by their closure.”
                                                                                       As Volotea expands it naturally comes
                                                                                    into contact with some of its larger airline
                                                                                    adversaries. When asked how it intends to
                                                                                    stay ahead of its rivals, Muñoz explained:
                                                                                    “Our competition with other carriers
                                                                                    remains marginal and, for the large part, we
                                                                                    intend to remain non-competitive. If we
                                                                                    do compete it is because we see an angle
                                                                                    where we can challenge on price and

           WWW.AVIATION NEWS.CO.UK                                                                                   39


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