Shift to domestic markets helps Volotea limit crisis impact on traffic

European carrier Volotea is crediting a shift of its network strategy to focus on domestic flights for a July-September traffic performance in which declines in passenger levels were kept to less than a quarter. Volotea says it handled 2.4m passengers in Q3, down only 23% on the same period the previous year. Bookings were only 9% down in the peak August month. The airline says load factor stood at 90% for the period, seven points down on the same period in 2019. After resuming scheduled services in June, the airline says it operated 247 routes during the third quarter. Of these, 56 were new services, reflecting a strategic shift to serve domestic markets to help counter the challenge of international travel restrictions. Cirium schedules data illustrates how the airline has increased capacity on domestic routes in its three biggest markets – France, Italy and Spain. It lifted domestic flight capacity in its biggest market Italy by almost a fifth and by 40% in France compared with Q3 2019. Domestic routes accounted for more than four-fifths of Volotea’s capacity during Q3 – though its overall flight capacity was down almost a fifth.<br/>