Vueling has increased its capacity on flights connecting the United Kingdom and Spain, with the low-cost carrier being one of the many airlines offering itineraries to some of the most popular destinations in the Mediterranean country.
The Spanish airline, part of the International Airlines Group (IAG), has increased capacity on key routes, including those that connect the UK with Alicante, Barcelona, and Seville, and introduced two new routes to Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela.
New Routes To Spain
In a statement, Vueling said that it is increasing frequencies and adding new routes from the United Kingdom to Spain, including new routes from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Bilbao Airport (BIO) and Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport (SCQ), serving Santiago de Compostela, with both airports located in Northern Spain.
At the same time, it has removed two routes connecting Spain’s cities and the UK. According to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium’s Diio Mi airline planning tool, Vueling no longer plans to operate flights from London Gatwick Airport (LGW) to Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) and Granada Federico García Lorca Airport (GRX) in July, with the low-cost carrier having operated three and two weekly flights to the two Spanish airports from London-Gatwick during the same month in 2024.
While Vueling will exit the two routes, leaving Granada’s airport without a connection to the British capital since no other airline will offer flights from any of London’s airports, plenty of carriers will fly from London, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton (LTN), and Stansted (STN) to Gran Canaria, including 
British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, and TUI.
“Ahead of Brits booking their summer getaways, Vueling, one of Europe’s largest low-cost airlines, has announced its summer routes, increasing flight frequency to and from some of the UK’s favorite Spanish cities. The Barcelona-based airline is keeping up with the UK’s travel desires with increased frequency on key routes, including Edinburgh to Barcelona, London Gatwick to Alicante, and London Gatwick to Seville. Earlier this year, the Spanish airline announced two new routes: Bilbao to London Heathrow and London Heathrow to Santiago de Compostela.”
Increasing Capacity To Spain
In July, Vueling plans to operate 19 additional weekly flights from Spain to the UK, resulting in 3,183 additional weekly seats, representing an increase of 10.6% and 9.6% year-on-year (YoY), respectively, according to Cirium’s Diio Mi. The airline’s complete Spanish network in July is displayed below.
Specifically, the Spanish low-cost carrier will be increasing capacity on five routes to the UK, which excludes the aforementioned two new itineraries to Bilbabo and Santiago De Compostela. This includes additional daily flights from London-Gatwick to Seville Airport (SVQ) and from London-Gatwick to Málaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP) each, six weekly from London-Gatwick to Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport (ALC), four weekly from Edinburg Airport (EDI) to Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN), and two weekly flights from Cardiff Airport (CWL) to Malaga.
In general, Cirium’s Diio Mi showed that in July, airlines will be adding 207 weekly flights from the UK to Spain, a 6.2% increase, which will result in 41,597, or 6.6%, additional weekly seats compared to July 2024. Ryanair, easyJet, and Jet2 will be the biggest drivers of the growth, with the trio adding 90, 50, and 55 weekly flights from the UK to Spain.
Popular Destination
According to the International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR), which cited data from the Spanish Secretary of State for Tourism (Secretario de Estado de Turismo, SETUR), Spain is the most popular destination in the UK, ranking first in terms of tourist expenditure and tourism flows in Spain. In 2023, Spain welcomed 17.3 million Britons, or 20.4% of the total number of tourists, resulting in the UK ranking first.
However, Spanish people, for one reason or another, perhaps the food, weather, or the beaches, are not so keen to visit the UK, with only 2.2 million Spanish nationals visiting the country in 2023, spending a total of £1.1 billion ($1.4 billion), VisitBritain/VisitEngland data showed. The traveler mix was 46% leisure, 31% visiting friends and relatives, and 15% business.
