The operation with which Vueling won 18 slots (flight rights) at the Paris Orly airport in November 2021, released by Air France, is paying off for the Barcelona-based IAG company. France has already become the second largest market for capacity for the airline, only behind Spain, a position that it hopes to consolidate with a significant increase in routes in the country this summer.
“We have made a clear commitment to the French market since the beginning of our operations, Paris being one of the first destinations to which the company flew along with Brussels, Eivissa and Palma in 2004. France has played a key role in the consolidation of the company and, today, Paris-Orly is our most strategic international base”, explains Carolyn Prowse, Vueling's director of commercial and network strategy.
Thus, the company currently has a fleet of nine aircraft in Paris-Orly, and an additional one in reserve to guarantee operations. The workforce in France now amounts to 300 people, and it has become the leader on the Barcelona-Paris-Barcelona line (all airports combined), where one in two passengers travels with Vueling.
In the French market, they have deployed a total of 51 routes to 14 countries during the 2023 summer season. In terms of operations, it is present at the airports of Paris-Orly, Lyon, Nice, Bastia, Marseille, Paris Charles De Gaulle, Bordeaux, Nantes and Toulouse connecting directly with 42 destinations in Europe and North Africa. None of its routes, the airline points out, is affected by the suppression of alternative train flights of up to two and a half hours.
One of the axes to grow in France, as in Spain, is to escape seasonality and strengthen operations throughout the year. It is the goal of the Paris-Orly route with Cairo. In this way, they try to increase the use of their aircraft out of season, which makes it possible to reduce the average cost by increasing competitiveness. The company, which has announced a capacity this summer in line with 2019, will grow by 9% due to the seasonal adjustment strategy and the increase in the use of aircraft.
The stone in the shoe in France is being, as for all airlines, the constant strikes of the country's air traffic controllers. In the first quarter of 2023 there have been 65 days of strike, 48 more than in 2019, which due to the situation of minimum services in the country makes operations difficult and has an impact on business results.
