Volotea still flying under the radar...but for how long?

 Not exactly welcomed by everyone...

These past weeks have been quite hectic for Volotea, Europe’s startup airline...and I say "Europe's" because as we progressively get to know more about the project it becomes more and more clear that this is a project with European ambitions. Just a few months after Volotea was unveiled, its network already spans most of Italy, France and Spain, with some routes reaching as far as Poland and the Greek islands. Reminds me of Flybe, but on a much wider, pan-European, scale. 

Until now Volotea had been flying below the radar, IAG's chairman Antonio Vazquez even said to this blogger at a recent event in London that they are not concerned at all since there is currently little overlap, however if growth continues at this pace it might soon set the alarm bells off in some quarters...while we do not know for how long this tranquility will last,Transavia's CEO has already made it clear that they take Volotea very very seriously...

Volotea opens for business!

Europe's youngest airline (Picture: Volotea)

Lots of speculation has surrounded the launch of a the new startup airline Volotea (in case you missed it, this blog was one of the first to report it back in December!) but the veil has finally been lifted...

 It's not every day that you can witness the birth of a new airline, but this is exactly what happened last Friday: Volotea is now open for business!

Volotea, taking off on 5th April (Picture: Volotea)

Volotea won't be flying until 5th April, but it is already possible to book flights on its website, which went into count-down mode last Friday before finally being unveiled (a few minutes ahead of the scheduled time actually!)

If the website is the ultimate reflection of the value of a business, Volotea's is stylish but nimble, cosmopolitan and with a touch of minimalism (its designers haven't even missed the Pinterest phenomenon)

By the way, in case you missed the news, despite being headquartered in Barcelona, Volotea is going to start with a base in Venice-Marco Polo and from there it is going to fly to 14 medium-sized cities across Europe, plus some routes that do not go through Venice (I imagine as a way to optimize its Boeing 717s rotations). It is going to offer single class seating and pricing, seems to be really competitive with the low cost carriers, although it has deliberately chosen to focus on routes that currently see little or no competition from other low cost or network carriers...this means more options for European air travellers, particularly those that do not live in big metropolitan areas, and more alternatives also for managers at secondary airports, that had become increasingly dependent on Ryanair to maintain traffic numbers up...and it looks like Venice is just the start, Volotea might be soon coming to an airport near you!

Views from Bergamo airport

Another Ryanair-related post, but I could not resist the temptation of uploading this picture taken at Bergamo airport (BGY), in Italy. Airports have normally dull surroundings, but you can see in the photo what are the background views from the terminal at BGY. Behind this Ryanair Boeing 737-800 promoting the city of Nykkoping, Sweden, a view of Bergamo's "Citta Alta" and the Alps. Not for nothing is Italy "il bel paese"!

Planespotting in Trieste

Air One Boeing 737 at TRS (see the Alps in the background!)

I recently had the chance to travel to the city of Trieste, in the North-Eastern tip of Italy. Here are some pics I took. Trieste airport(TRS) is actually some way off the city (about 40 km North of it, in the city of Ronchi dei Legionari) as it is actually the airport of all the Friuli-Venezia-Julia region. It is a small airport serving a limited number of destinations. At the time of my arrival only to commercial aircraft were on the tarmac, mine, the Ryanair flight from Stansted, and an aircraft from the Italian airline Air One covering the route to Rome (FCO).

Ryanair is the largest operator at TRS with connections to Brimingham, Cagliari, Brussels and forthcoming Trapani and Weeze, other available routes are Lufthansa's (Air Dolomiti) to Munich, Air One to Rome, Catania and Naples, JAT Airways to Belgrade and Belle Air to Tirana. Air France recently announced its suspension of services to CDG and domestic airline Skybridge Airops is opening a new service to Foggia.

The location of the airport, although a bit far off the center makes it an ideal starting point for trips into the plains and mountains of Friuli, an area of great natural beauty and many sites of historical significance, specially those related to the battles of WWI (the airport is actually located almost on what used to be the front line) and as an alternative entry point to Slovenia, Ljubljana is about one hour and a half away by car. Another attractive of the airport are its magnificent views of the Carnian Alps, as you can see in the picture I posted. The airport itself ahs a great website where you can find many more interesting pictures about TRS.