VOLOTEA STARTS TO OPERATE IN ATHENS

 Volotea, the airline of small and medium sized European cities, announces today its arrival to Athens’ airport, with the offer of over 60.000 seats for 2015. Santorini, Palermo, Pisa/Tuscany, Bari and Venice are the 5 destinations offered by Volotea from Athens. This announcement demonstrates the strategic interest of the company in the Greek market, where it has been operating since 2012 and has already transported over 190.000 passengers.

Volotea continues its development in Greece and starts its operations in Athens

Starting in April 2015, Volotea launches five new routes from Athens airport, 1 domestic and 4 to Italy. It will be the first year of operations of Volotea in Athens, and the third in Greece. The airline has already transported over 190.000 passengers into Greece since April 2012, operating from over 10 other Greek airports. In 2015, Volotea will also start operating in 2 other new Greek airports, Zante and Thessaloniki.

New routes from Athens:

Domestic route

• Santorini:   starts May 29th 2015. 4 weekly flights from June to September

International routes

• Venice (Italy): starts April 3rd 2015. Up to 3 weekly flights from April to October.             

• Bari (Italy): starts June 1st 2015. 2 weekly flights from June to September.

                                                               

• Palermo (Italy): starts June 26th 2015. 2 weekly flights from June to September.

                                                               

• Pisa/Tuscany (Italy): starts May 29th 2015. 2 weekly flights from June to September.                                                      

Carlos Muñoz, CEO and founder of Volotea, was in Athens to present the Volotea plan for Greece for 2015:

“Greece has become a very strategic market for Volotea. In 2015 it will be the country were we expect to have the highest growth, with an increase of almost 60% of our offer versus last year. It is really exciting to give to the Athenians the possibility to travel directly and at competitive prices to destinations in Italy such as Venice, Pisa, Bari or Palermo, as well as the local island of Santorini. We are very thankful to have got already the confidence of 190.000 passengers from Greece, who have chosen to fly with us, and expect that through their continuous support, we will continue to offer more destinations from Athens in the years to come”.

On the occasion of Volotea's new Athens routes, the CEO of Athens International Airport, Yiannis Paraschis,.stressed:

"We are delighted with Volotea's "arrival" in Athens this coming summer period, with the launch of 5 routes out of our airport. This new choice for passengers enhances connectivity between Greece and Italy with flights to 4 Italian destinations, while also adding in summer 2015, a domestic destination, to its network, the island of Santorini. We wish all the best to one more airline choosing to develop through the Athens International Airport, and we are committed to support our new airline partner towards a very successful presence in the Athens market, both on operational and developmental level.

Volotea continues its growth in Europe in 2015

From the current 119 routes in total of its network in 2014, Volotea plans to grow to a total of 151 in 2015. This growth will lean on the fleet enlargement with four more planes, from the current 15 Boeings 717 to 19 next summer 2015. Next year, the number of flights will be increased by 35%, with a transported passengers forecast of 2,5 million, from 6 bases, Venice and Palermo in Italy, Nantes, Bordeaux and newly announced Strasbourg in France and a sixth base in Spain, whose location will be confirmed over the coming weeks.

The company expects to close sales in 2014 with 160 million euros and reach 220 million euros in 2015. In regard to its employees, that stood at 480 people in high season 2014, and the airline expects to reach 580-600 people next year.