Vueling new airline name to UK

Spanish budget airlines Vueling and Clickair are due to complete a merger this week.

They are set to formally combine on July 9 to create what the new Vueling CEO Alex Cruz calls "a merger of equals."

The move follows the Spanish stock market regulator CNMW exempted Iberia from making a takeover bid for the new airline.

Iberia will hold a 45.85% shareholding in the new Vueling.

The 36-month old Clickair brand will disappear and Vueling will become Spain"s second largest carrier flying 11 million passengers a year from six bases including its Barcelona headquarters.

The new Vueling will cover a route network of almost 50 destinations.

Vueling will be a new name to the UK and Heathrow when it absorbs Clickair"s daily flights to Seville, La Coruna, Bilbao, in addition to summer flights to Vigo.

The merged airline will also retain Clickair flights to Casablanca and Marrakech, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Budapest and Bucharest. Italy will continue to be Vueling"s second biggest market after Spain.

Madrid will feature prominently on the new Vueling"s network as one of its six Spanish bases, the others being Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao, Malaga and Valencia.

The new Vueling will cater for 70% leisure/30% business travellers, said Cruz.

Vueling will operate 35 Airbus A320s (18 aircraft coming from clickair and 17 from Vueling), serve 46 airports and run 92 routes.

The combined workforce will total 1,300, including flight crew and office staff.

by Phil Davies

Monday, July 6, 2009