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Volaris

IATA Y4 ICAO VOI Callsign VOLARIS
Founded	2004
Commenced operations	2005
Hubs	Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla International Airport General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport Mexico City International Airport Largest Base
Focus cities	Los Angeles International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	VClub
Fleet size	42
Destinations	39
Parent company	Vuela Compañia de Aviación
Headquarters	Mexico City, Mexico
Key people	List of key people Enrique Beltranena (CEO) Fernando Suarez (CFO) Holger Blankenstein (CCO)
Website	volaris.mx

Concesionaria Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A. de C.V., operating as Volaris, is a Mexican low-cost airline and the country's second largest airline after Aeroméxico, thus being a leading competitor in the Mexican domestic market, with a market share of around 13-14% of domestic traffic.

Volaris' headquarters are located in Santa Fe, Álvaro Obregón, Mexico City,^[1] and its operational base is located at the Lic. Adolfo López Mateos International Airport (TLC) in Toluca.

History [edit]

A Volaris Airbus 319 parked at Terminal 2 at Cancún International Airport.

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The pre-operations phase (founding of the legal entities and setting up of the required infrastructure) started in August 2005 under the name Vuela Airlines. Major initial shareholders of the company were Grupo Televisa (the world's biggest Spanish-language media conglomerate), Inbursa (an insurance company owned by billionaire Carlos Slim), TACA and the Discovery Americas Fund. Each of these partners invested 25% of the initial cost of activities, or 100 million USD. On July 2010,^[2] it was announced that Televisa and Inbursa had sold their stake in Volaris leaving the ownership of Volaris as follows: TACA with Roberto and Maria Cristina Kriete (50%), Investment fund Discovery Americas (over 25%) and Indigo Partners: Fund led by former America West CEO B. Franke. Ticket sale started on January 12, 2006, and the first (non-commercial) flight was operated in February 2006, following the delivery of the airline's first aircraft. Scheduled revenue flights were launched on March 13, 2006, with the inaugural flight having been operated from Toluca to Tijuana.

Initially, the airline avoided flying to Mexico City because of its congested and expensive airport. The airline took over several slots formerly owned by defunct Mexicana and its subsidiaries MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink, establishing service in September 2010.

On February 20, 2011, the airline celebrated its fifth anniversary.

In March, 2011, it announced that its hub in Toluca will move to Guadalajara.

On June 5, 2012, the airline launched a frequent flyer program called VClub. ^[3]

On June 6, 2012, the airline has partnered with PayPal and became a payment alternative for the airline, enabling customers to safely and easily purchase tickets directly from the airline's website.^[4]

On September 17, 2012, Volaris has announced a codeshare partnership with a German airline, Condor Flugdienst. Passengers of Condor will be able to fly to more international destinations.^[5]

Volaris has started service from Mexico City to Mérida and Tuxtla Gutiérrez from in February 2013.

On March 13, 2013, the airline celebrated its seventh anniversary, offering passengers 70% off all flights.

US operations [edit]

A Volaris "Andrea" Airbus 319 taxing in Los Angeles International Airport.

In November 2008, Volaris announced a codeshare agreement with US-based low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines.

In April 2009, Volaris announced the start of US-bound flights out of Toluca and Guadalajara (initially to Los Angeles and Oakland) to feed into the hubs of Southwest Airlines. Later on, US-flights were also offered from Zacatecas and Morelia, with Monterrey-Los Angeles (with Fresno Yosemite International Airport) in planning.

On December 13, 2010, Volaris started services between Chicago Midway International Airport and Guadalajara. It is Volaris fourth international destination, first international service to a secondary airport and the longest route of Volaris' history. After Mexicana's shutdown, Volaris took over many of Mexicana's international destinations and flights from its focus city, Guadalajara.

On February 25, 2011, it was announced that Volaris would acquire Mexicana de Aviacion's destination, Fresno Yosemite International Airport and would begin service on April 14, 2011. Fresno was Volaris' first US destination where they did not partner with Southwest Airlines. The airline began using Guadalajara International Airport as an American gateway hub in late 2011.

Volaris has received permission to fly between Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Mexico City, along with a number of other U.S.-Mexico routes. Volaris sought the permission on February 3, and the U.S. Department of Transportation gave its approval on February 11. Volaris has not disclosed yet when it might begin service on the DFW-Mexico City route. The applications are of interest to Southwest Airlines because Volaris and Southwest began offering connections between their flights at 19 western cities in December. The new Volaris routes to and from Los Angeles International Airport, Sacramento International Airport, Oakland International Airport and San Jose International Airport will offer Southwest customers new places in Mexico that can be served through the Volaris alliance.^[6]

Volaris received approval to fly to San Diego International Airport on July 12.

Volaris started service to Sacramento and Guadalajara on November 15, 2012.

Volaris began flights between Denver and Mexico City on December 8, 2012

Destinations [edit]

Volaris serves 29 domestic destinations and as well 10 international destinations.

Codeshare agreements [edit]

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• Condor Flugdienst

Past [edit]

• Southwest Airlines

Volaris and Southwest stopped codesharing on February 22, 2013. Southwest decided to focus more on the Mexican market with AirTran Airways, instead of codesharing with Volaris. ^{[7] [8]}

Fleet [edit]

A Volaris Airbus A319 at Toluca Airport.

As of May 2013, the Volaris fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 4.4 years:^[9]

Volaris selected the International Aero Engines V2500 engines for its Airbus fleet, similar to those selected by TACA.^{[citation needed]}

Media [edit]

The former Volaris safety video featured actress Claudia Lizaldi.^[10] The current Volaris safety video features young children demonstrating the safety procedures. ^[11] Both of the videos are enabled with English language subtitles.

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Volaris

	Mexico portal
	Companies portal
	Aviation portal

• Volaris Official website
• Terraris website
• Official website (Spanish)
• V de Volaris in-flight magazine (Spanish)
• Terraris website (Spanish)