Vueling turns 20 and outlines new growth plans in Barcelona

It was February 2004. Carlos Muñoz and his team signed the constitution of Vueling in a notary's office on Avenida Pau Casals in Barcelona. 20 years ago, neither the company's founder nor the few enthusiasts who accompanied him in his first steps would have imagined that this small aviation company, which started discreetly, yet changing the perception of the sector for a new passenger profile, would end up being the absolute leader at El Prat Airport.

Two decades ago, our city's airport was, simply, Barcelona's. That infrastructure had only one terminal, the current T2, and it wasn't until 2011 that its official name changed to Barcelona-El Prat. Eight years later, its name would be extended again, adding the name of Josep Tarradellas to that of the two municipalities, as was then officialized in the Official State Gazette.

That 2004 in the city

Besides being the year of Vueling's foundation and launch in Barcelona, that distant 2004 was also the year of the celebration of the Forum of Cultures, the year of Leo Messi's debut in Barça's first team, the launch of the Trambaix railway service along Diagonal, and the opening of the Born market archaeological site. At the airport, those 12 months closed with 24.5 million passengers, of whom nine and a half million flew with Iberia, two and a half million with the defunct Spanair, and by then Vueling accounted for just over 1% of the airport's users: it moved 259,000 people.

In 2023, El Prat more than doubled the overall figure to 49.9 million travelers. Two decades later, the final picture has been very different, with Vueling as the absolute leader of this facility, exceeding 20.5 million passengers, well above its immediate follower, Ryanair, which had 8.4 million customers arriving or departing from El Prat. Iberia added 1.9 million users, practically all flying on the Barcelona-Madrid route, the only one that maintains the route both to maintain the Air Shuttle service and to feed the Barajas hub.

The leader wants to grow more

Currently, Vueling has a team of 4,600 people, flies with 124 aircraft across 16 bases, and operates some 200,000 trips a year, making it the leading operator in Spain-France flows and the second in connections between Spain and London Gatwick. Within these figures is included having reached a market share of 42% in its main operating base, El Prat, whose runways are not far from its headquarters, in the Viladecans Business Park.

The IAG group company, led by Marco Sansavini since summer 2020, does not want to lose a single point of its leadership in Barcelona, and its program for this year includes a record high season. It should be remembered that in commercial aviation there are only two seasons according to the International Air Transport Association or IATA: the summer period starts on the last Sunday of March and ends on the last Saturday of October, while the winter period runs from the last Sunday of October to the last Saturday of March.

For this summer, Vueling plans to increase its frequencies by 7%. One of the arguments for this is to cover the increase in demand expected due to the celebration of several major sporting events that will take place on the continent, such as the Paris Olympic Games, the European Football Championship in Germany and, obviously, the Louis Vuitton America's Cup which will be held in Barcelona.

This year's growth

At El Prat, this airline will fly on nearly 90 routes and, on average, expects to reach 15 weekly frequencies, although this figure will vary significantly depending on the destination. There are cities where growth will be particularly strong, such as London, where it already flies eight times a day from Barcelona to Gatwick and now two new frequencies will be added, although destined for Heathrow Airport, a global aeronautical reference and the great hub of British Airways, a sister company of Vueling itself and Iberia, under the IAG umbrella.

For the European football championship, frequencies to Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, and Stuttgart, in Germany, will be increased, and the number of weekly flights from Barcelona to Malaga and Seville will also be increased, in addition to scheduling practically an air bridge with the three Balearic airports, flying 12 times a day to the airports of Palma, Menorca, and Ibiza: 36 daily hops to the islands.

The environmental part

Vueling's discourse also has a leg that talks about the environment, as on the so-called path towards carbon neutrality, the IAG group has set out to operate 10% of its flights with SAF or sustainable aviation fuel within six years. Thus, it wants to practically double the target set by the European Union for 2030, which is 6%.

Vueling is the absolute leader at Barcelona-El Prat Airport, exceeding 20.5 million passengers in 2023

With this roadmap, Vueling's intention is to continue leading the aeronautical market in Barcelona and to close the gap with the leader in aviation in Spain and Europe: the Irish Ryanair, which already has divisions in Malta and Poland, from where it is also growing, although always keeping an eye on what Vueling does, a reference in European commercial aviation from Barcelona.