Spain’s Volotea grounds fleet until 8 April

Volotea has announced the temporary grounding of its entire fleet until at least April 8, sending home 1,100 of its employees in Spain, France and Italy over this period. The airline says the grounding of its fleet of 19 Airbus A319s and 14 Boeing 717s jets is a consequence of both the collapse of demand for air transport amid the coronavirus outbreak and the national curfews and regulations limiting air traffic, such as the virtual prohibition of passenger flights to the Balearic Islands, except for tourist repatriation flights. Volotea, Spain’s fourth-largest airline, is offering customers booked on the cancelled flights the option to choose between a refund or a voucher worth 120% of the ticket price paid. This news comes a day after Iberia announced that it will temporarily lay off nearly 14.000 of its employees. <br/>