New Vueling starts service as second-largest Spanish airline

Vueling and clickair integrated their operations at 1 min. past midnight on July 9 as planned.

The merged airline (ATWOnline, July 7) is flying under one AOC and holds a 6.8% share of the Spanish market, based on AENA figures for the first five months of this year, making it the second-largest Spanish carrier after Iberia, which has a 15.8% market share and owns a 45.85% stake in the new Vueling. Ryanair and easyJet hold 10.9% and 7.2% market shares in Spain respectively.

Along with the integration, Vueling moved operations to Terminal 2B at its Barcelona base, though it will move to the new T1 in September. On the first day of joint operations, it operated 263 flights on 71 routes.

In addition to Iberia's holding, Inversiones Hemisferio has a 14.3% share and Nefinsa controls 4.15%. Free float will be around 35%. Alex Cruz, formerly clickair's CEO, is the carrier's CEO.