Spanish low-fare carrier, Vueling is to launch flights at London Luton Airport, the headquarters of its budget rival, easyJet and largest point in the network of Wizz Air. It will introduce twice daily flights to the airport from its bases in Amsterdam and Barcelona in summer 2016 as it continues its network growth in the UK market.

The arrival of Vueling at Luton, its third London airport, will see it grow its UK route map next year to 12 airports as part of a significant growth in the UK market over the past couple of years. In fact, Vueling will offer a total of 1,854,500 seats in the UK and Ireland in summer 2016, a 99 per cent increase from the past summer.

“Vueling proudly announces two new routes from London-Luton airport and with these additions we reinforce Vueling’s presence in the British market. Having reached three million passengers transported in the UK shows that Vueling is succeeding in challenging the concepts of low cost carriers, offering a superior product and exceptional services with low fares and a wide range of services, fit for the holidaymakers and the business passengers,” said Fernando Estrada, Strategy Director, Vueling.

The two new London Luton routes will offer almost 250,000 additional seats during the summer season. Both will be operated on a twice daily schedule, although Amsterdam will initially launch in March 2016 with just a single daily flight.

Vueling made its debut in the UK in April 2009, initially operating a route between London Heathrow and the Galician city of La Coruña. It now has a network that also includes Gatwick Airport in London, as well as Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast.

Alongside the two London Luton routes, Vueling will also introduce regular scheduled flights in summer 2016 from Birmingham to Alicante; Edinburgh to Alicante, Paris and Rome; London Gatwick to Paris CDG; Manchester to Alicante and Rome and from Leeds Bradford, Liverpool and Newcastle to Barcelona.

London Luton Airport, chief executive officer, Nick Barton, described the arrival of Vueling as “another major coup” for the airport. “The new routes to Barcelona and Amsterdam will provide excellent frequency for business travellers, whilst creating yet more options for leisure travellers to these major city destinations,” he added.

Vueling’s low-fare rivals, easyJet and Wizz Air, dominate at London Luton and together account for almost 75 per cent of the airport’s departure capacity. It is the original launching point for easyJet, which retains its headquarters on the airport site, while Wizz Air uses the airport to support its increasing activities across the emerging Central and Eastern European markets.

easyJet still has a strong presence at Luton, despite establishing Gatwick Airport as its biggest London market presence. It is one of four London airports it serves and has this year once again offered a network of over three million departure seats, the first time since 2008. Wizz Air continues to expand its offering from Luton exceeding the two million departure seat milestone in 2015 with year-on-year growth of 24.9 per cent.