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Vueling will open a permanent base at Amsterdam – Schiphol airport in late April. The announcement was made yesterday by the company’s CEO, Alex Cruz, and the president and CEO of Schiphol Airport, Jos Nijhuis. The airline will base an Airbus A-320 at the airport, which will add Alicante, Palma de Majorca and Zurich to its destination options from Amsterdam reaching a total of ten. The new routes from Amsterdam will be added to the seven operated now: Barcelona, Bilbao, Ibiza, La Coruna, Malaga, Seville and Valencia. Thus, Vueling will become the first foreign airline based at Schiphol.
The aircraft based at Schiphol will enable Vueling to increase its capacity in the Dutch capital by 50% during next year’s summer season compared to the same period of 2010. During the summer 2011, the airline will have a seat capacity of 636.000 seats. The number of weekly flights will also increase 35% reaching 68 weekly flights during the summer peak.
Vueling’s new base will be the company’s ninth and the second international one to be opened in 2011, along with Toulouse whose announcement was made on November, 9. Amsterdam fits the growth plans of the airline, which has now entered into profitability and will expand its fleet in 2011, resulting in a considerable increase in seat capacity.
At an event hosted by the airport and also attended by Dutch authorities, Alex Cruz stated that Vueling: “…arrived at Schiphol on October, 25 2005 and since then it has been growing in a steady but consolidated pace. We have carried nearly two million passengers and the creation of this new international base demonstrates the commitment we have to the Netherlands and the Dutch people."
Direct destinations from Amsterdam
- Alicante*
- Barcelona
- Bilbao
- Ibiza
- La Coruna
- Malaga
- Mallorca*
- Seville
- Valence
- Zurich*
* New destinations
A permanent commitment to Amsterdam
The new base consolidates the commitment that Vueling has made to Amsterdam. The project represents the creation of up to 150 jobs and an investment of around 30 million euros over the next three years.
Vueling arrived at Amsterday Schiphol for the first time on October 25, 2005, with routes to Barcelona and Valence. In 2007, the company doubled its range of destinations, adding Malaga and Seville, in May and December, respectively. In 2010, Vueling has added three more cities: La Coruna and Bilbao in March and Ibiza in June. They total seven routes linking Amsterdam to Spain.
The growth of passenger numbers at Schiphol is also remarkable. In 2005, Vueling carried almost 40,000 people. This year, the figure will certainly exceed 500,000 passengers. Since it began operating in Amsterdam, the airline has carried almost two million passengers to or from the Dutch capital.
Vueling and technology
The airline has also chosen Schiphol to implement the mobile boarding pass, replacing the paper document. The service is available from November, 24 to all passengers flying from Schiphol with Internet connection on their mobiles.
Vueling has always invested in the latest technology to provide better service to passengers. The airline was the first one to enable seat allocation at point of purchase, it has always offered online check-in and has been incorporating services such as PayPal and the creation of two new customer service channels: chat and twitter.
Connected destinations
Owing to Vueling connected flights, passengers from 18 airports can fly to Amsterdam with a stopover in Barcelona. From these, five (Palermo, Santiago, Verona and Vigo) have no direct competitor to reach the Dutch capital. The airline began to connect flights on 5 July and since then passengers coming from or going to Amsterdam account for 10% of the airline’s international transit.
Connected destinations via Barcelona with no direct airline competitors
- Moscow
- Palermo
- Santiago
- Verona
- Vigo
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
