Vueling Boosts Capacity on Bilbao – London Heathrow

Posted 20/09/2011

Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling Airlines is to increase the frequency of its flights between Bilbao and London Heathrow during the Northern Winter.  The carrier will introduce a second daily rotation on the route from October 30, although to support this expansion and most notably the slots at the UK airport, it is to cancel its Seville – London Heathrow route from the same date.

The increase in frequency follows a successful seven years on the route.  “We are responding to increased demand from passengers in both the leisure and business markets. The new schedule enables business executives to make convenient day return trips, and leisure visitors can enjoy comfortable long weekend breaks,” said Alex Cruz Chief Executive Officer, Vueling.

Vueling has noted a growing demand from regular business travellers for the route to the burgeoning economic centre. “This sector is increasingly important for Vueling and we plan to create additional business focused products to join our existing portfolios of services,” commented Cruz on the significance of the market sector.  Vueling already offers a variety of business focused products  including Go which enables passengers to check in for an earlier flight than booked if required; Duo allows clients to buy the middle seat of three for extra space; business travel arrangers can also purchase Vueling seats through travel agents and business travellers can earn points on their Iberia Punto scheme.

But it is not all about the premium market.  The modern city of Bilbao, with its major tourist attraction the Guggenheim museum, is well positioned for leisure visitors.  The Basque city is rapidly becoming known as Spain's ‘capital of gastronomy’ and it is nearby San Sebastian, which has the finest city beaches in Spain.  Meanwhile, Spanish tourists are also taking advantage of competitive rates and the weak pound to Euro exchange rate to visit London and further afield.

Vueling is currently the only airline to offer a link from Bilbao to London Heathrow, but easyJet also offers flights to London Stansted and Manchester.  An estimated 237,000 O&D passengers travelled between Bilabo and the UK in the last year with around 127,000 (54 per cent) using easyJet’s flight to London Stansted and 4,000 (two per cent) its link to Manchester.  Interestingly, of the 90,000 O&D passengers that used the Vueling service to London Heathrow (38 per cent of total UK market), only 24,000 of these flew on the ‘VY’ code; the rest using the ‘IB’ code of codeshare partner Iberia. 

To read our exclusive interview with Alex Cruz from earlier this year click here.

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