Volotea, Europe’s youngest LCC, sees more opportunities in France and plans a base in Bordeaux

Volotea is pursuing its strategy of linking Europe's small and mid-sized cities with direct air services and plans to establish a base at Bordeaux Airport and Palermo in summer 2013. Bordeaux will be the young LCC's second base in France after Nantes Atlantique Airport. Air France has a market leading capacity share at both Nantes and Bordeaux Airport, but Volotea does not shy away from this formidable force. The young carrier will base two 125-seat Boeing 717s at Bordeaux and will offer 13 routes from the airport. With the Bordeaux base launch, Volotea will operate 45 routes from 14 French airports.

It is unlikely that Air France will sit back and hand over key routes to a much smaller competitor. The French airline is working on a major overhaul of its domestic and European operations, which should make it more fit and dynamic to halt the expansion of low-fare rivals in its market.