Rodez, September 2^nd, 2024 – Volotea, the fastest-growing airline in Europe, inaugurated its new operational base in Rodez, France today. This marks the airline’s tenth base in the country, creating over 30 direct jobs at Rodez-Aveyron Airport.

The opening of this new base follows the airline's successful bid to operate the Rodez-Aveyron and Paris Orly route under a public service obligation (PSO). Through this service, eligible local residents will benefit from two daily flights from Monday to Friday and one flight every Sunday at a reduced fare, all operated with an Airbus A319. In 2025, the airline plans to offer a total of 178,000 seats on approximately 1,140 flights, anticipating an average seat load factor of over 90% for this connection.

The route to Rodez is now part of Volotea's extensive network of destinations from Paris Orly, which includes Ancona, Bilbao, Genoa, Olbia, Turin, Verona, and Lourdes—also operated by Volotea under a public service obligation. Rodez now joins an established lineup of Volotea bases across France, including Bordeaux, Brest, Lille, Lourdes, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Strasbourg, and Toulouse.

ABOUT VOLOTEA

Volotea was founded in 2011 by Carlos Muñoz and Lázaro Ros, also previously founders of Vueling. It is one of the fastest-growing airlines in Europe in the last decade, increasing its fleet, routes served, and seats offered year-on-year. This year, the airline celebrated a milestone of carrying 60 million passengers throughout its network.

Volotea reaches 110 airports and is based in 21 medium-sized European capitals: Asturias, Athens, Bari (new for 2024), Bilbao, Bordeaux, Brest (new for 2024), Florence, Hamburg, Lille, Lyon, Lourdes, Marseille, Nantes, Naples, Olbia, Palermo, Rodez (from September 2024), Strasbourg, Toulouse, Venice, and Verona.

This year, Volotea will operate nearly 450 routes (with over half exclusive), offer between 12.5M and 13M seats (+12% to +16% versus 2023), and fly approximately 80,000 flights. The airline operates a fleet of 44 Airbus A319 and A320.

Volotea is working towards achieving a more sustainable future in aviation. The airline is set to achieve its target of reducing direct CO2 emissions per passenger-kilometer by 50% by 2025, five years ahead of the initial schedule. To date, Volotea has launched over 50 sustainability initiatives that have already driven a reduction in carbon footprint per passenger and kilometer by more than 45%. Since 2022, the company has been working on developing emission-free alternative technologies, operating Airbus' internal shuttle service with 34% sustainable aviation fuel and collaborating with manufacturers and the industry so that these fuels (now difficult to access) can be developed and become widespread as soon as possible. 

Volotea, with a projected workforce of approximately 2,100 employees this year, actively boosts connectivity within the territories where it is based while contributing to their economic development and enriching the cultural landscape through impactful sponsorship projects.

Volotea was awarded a four-star rating in 2024 and recognized by Skytrax in its global passenger satisfaction survey as the “Best Low-Cost Airline in Europe” at the 2023 and 2024 World Airline Awards, referred to by media worldwide as “the Oscars of the aviation industry.” The airline adds these accolades to its growing list of achievements, which includes consecutive wins for "Europe’s Leading Low-Cost Airline" at the World Travel Awards in 2021, 2022, and 2024.

For more information visit: https://www.volotea.com/en/press-room/ 
press@volotea.com
Tel: 93 117 17 77