Budget airline boss hails business extras

Vueling chief executive Alex Cruz says traditional carriers are losing ground when it comes to servicing the highly price-sensitive short-haul sector.

Addressing the Aviation Club, Cruz said some short-haul services operated by traditional airlines are unviable.

He said low-cost carriers, such as Vueling, have introduced enhanced businesses offerings to ‘deliver a viable solution’.

Vueling now operates nine routes from four UK airports: Heathrow, Southampton, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

‘We experienced some initial teething problems,’ he said.

‘But when Vueling merged in 2009 with Clickair, everything started to come together.

‘Today, we fly 16m passengers annually on 59 Airbus aircraft over 150 new routes from 14 bases across Europe.’

Cruz acknowledged that Vueling’s domestic market has suffered some ‘major political mismanagement’.

But he said he believes the fundamentals of Spain remain solid and the country will get back on its feet.