In France, Spanish low-cost companies seem to have gotten into a face-to-face fight with local airlines and now compete with each other to offer the best prices and services to fly within the country.
Vueling began operating three domestic routes from Orly airport in Paris to Marseille, Brest and Montpellier from October 16. It offers two roundtrip frequencies on Friday and Sunday, specifically focused on those passengers who fly on weekends, as reported by Bfm Business.
Until now Vueling only offered international flights to southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy) from Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice or Nantes, but it began to offer domestic legs within France with fares that start at 29 euros one-way.
In addition, Volotea (a Spanish low-cost airline based in Asturias) presented its programming for the European winter in France, which includes 53 flights from 18 French airports, but none leaving or arriving in Paris.
The company offers connections between different French cities such as Ajaccio-Toulouse, Caen-Lyon or Lille-Perpignan, counting for a total of 680,000 seats available for the coming months, according to information from the airline.
Volotea aims to fly into major regional airports like Nantes Lyon and Montpellier but is also looking to reach smaller destinations like Caen, Rennes, Strasbourg and Lille, which are not being prioritized by the other carriers. The carrier operates aircraft with a capacity of between 125 and 150 passengers, with a fleet consisting of Boeing 717 and Airbus 319.
Last summer, the Ajaccio-Nantes and Montpellier-Nantes sections were Volotea’s busiest routes in France, with a total of 83,000 passengers carried during the summer. By focusing on routes that do not go through Paris, it allows the airline to avoid direct competition with EasyJet and Air France on domestic routes.
