Gatwick welcomes Spain's Vueling
Gatwick Airport has welcomed new airline Vueling – the first Spanish airline to serve Barcelona from Gatwick – to its list of short-haul operators, serving the second largest city in Spain with a twice-daily service.
Barcelona is a hugely popular destination for UK tourists with beaches that stretch nearly three miles and a bustling city centre, with 740,000 passengers departing to the capital of Catalonia in 2012. It is also a key business market.
Gatwick, which currently welcomes 34 million passengers per year, has around 25% spare capacity and is forecast to grow its passenger numbers to around 38 million by 2020. Opening new routes and welcoming new airlines is key to this growth. Recent new direct routes include China, Turkey, Vietnam and coming later in 2013, Indonesia.
Matt Wood, head of airline relations at Gatwick Airport, said: “We are delighted to welcome Vueling and its passengers to the airport today, offering travellers further choice to the popular city of Barcelona. As we continue to compete with other London airports to attract new airlines and new routes, we welcome the fact that links between London Gatwick and Barcelona have now been further strengthened
