Air Scoop: Vueling is presenting itself as the « new generation airline », what do you do better than your competitors? What are your specificities compared to other European LCCs?

Carlos Munoz: What sets Vueling apart from our competitors is our innovative new airline concept: the aim to be different from all other airlines and offer “High Quality at the Best Price”

As a new generation airline, we want to guarantee all of our passengers a new way of flying and implement our own philosophy of high quality at the best price. This new formula is changing the face of the airline market and we believe this is a key part of our continuing success. Our formula seems to attract more and more European passengers who know they can fly in comfort and safety with a professional and friendly company whilst paying the best price.

Vueling ´s success can also be attributed to the following, namely; the fact that our passengers are all flying on brand new aircrafts (all our fleet is based on the same aeroplane model Airbus A320), we always fly to main airports, Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Fiumicino in Rome, Malpensa in Milano, we guarantee no overbooking on all our flights and customers can choose their seat on line, we have total flexibility with our tickets (one can change the dates of travel, the passenger or destination), we have a check in system online, we guarantee high punctuality and finally we know that almost all passengers value on board entertainment. These attributes help to create the face of Vueling and make us different from the rest.

A recent survey of more than 8,600 frequent flyers carried out by a European consumer organisation in France , Belgium , Holland , Italy , and Portugal ranked Vueling as the best Spanish airline. Out of the 110 airlines analysed, Vueling ranked in 23rd position. People taking the survey stated that the keys factors which helped them rate the airlines were: reliability, punctuality, customer service, and the relationship between quality and price.

Our Business to Leisure passenger ratio is what we would expect. Approximately 40% of our customers choose to travel with Vueling when travelling on business. Without a doubt they value the fact that we fly to principal airports, our no overbooking policy and the punctuality of our flights gives us our personality and obviously makes us different. Equally we have a high proportion of our passengers who choose Vueling as their choice airline for leisure breaks. Our prices and high quality and service ensure that all trips whether leisure or business work for everyone as the price factor is no longer an obstacle.

Why Barcelona as a choice for your base? What are the advantages?

We saw an opening in the market and we took it. Barcelona was crying out for the type of airline we were planning. In fact there was no low cost company established in El Prat and as this airport is strategically very important for the rest of Spain and the south Mediterranean , we seized the opportunity to establish Vueling . Our leading position has always been in Barcelona although we are equally aware of the important role Madrid is now playing. We have already established a base in the capital, and with the new terminal T4 in Barajas we promoted our operations from Madrid .

How do you analyse the competition with Ryanair, easyJet and Air Berlin ? Especially with easyJet since the settlement of their hub in Madrid ? Which one is for you the main competitor?

To compare Vueling with other low cost companies is difficult, our aims and what makes us a success are very different to those other airlines, we believe there is enough room in the skies and we fly in our own space and they there's. The entry of companies in the market stimulates the lawsuit. There's no doubt that the airline industry has seen an unprecedented transformation in the past 10 years with the low cost phenomenon but this a welcoming situation for all passengers and we believe the skies can hold us all. The new situation has enticed almost everyone to get on a plane and travel safe in the knowledge that they will not incur huge costs, which used to be the case. The difference between all the actual low cost companies lies in the way they choose to fly and the quality of service on offer. Customers nowadays have plenty of options, they just have to decide which one is the best for them. In Vueling we think our philosophy is logical and simple and we try to keep on achieving our promises... and it seems to be working.

Iberia has announced the creation of a LCC based in Barcelona , what do you think about it?

The competition is always welcome, with Iberia 's low cost aims we are slightly sceptical, we really do not know how they are going to manage if they try and model themselves on LCC. We reserve all judgements and are happy to sit back and watch the developments. It will be interesting to see how they implement this, which aircrafts are they going to use, which airports and which destinations do they intend to fly, etc.

Are you worried about the shortage of pilots and crew hitting LCC market?

We are not overly concerned about this matter there will always be professional graduated pilots who want to work for a new generation airline. Vueling continues to increase its staff every month with more and more pilots and cabin crew with each new aircraft. This Wednesday 30th of May we will accept our 12th A320 and by the end of 2006 we expect to have 16 aeroplanes in our fleet.

Do you have expansion projects in a near future? (IPO? New planes? Partnerships?...) Vueling currently covers 6 countries; do you plan to open more routes to/from these countries, or to open new routes to other countries?

Vueling has been growing and developing since it was established in July 2004. We began flying Barcelona-Ibiza and now we operate in 7 European countries (Lisbon-Portugal, Paris-France, Amsterdam-The Nederland, Brussels-Belgium, Milan, Venice and Rome-Italy and Santiago de Compostela, Bilbao, Madrid, Sevilla, Málaga, Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, Mallorca and during the summer Menorca and Ibiza). We are dedicated to fly to more and more cities whilst continuing to increase the frequencies with our well established routes. New destinations, more schedules and our constant improvement in all aspects of our company are our constant goals.

Ryanair, easyJet and Air Berlin have routes to Morocco . Vueling is close from this market, do you plan to open routes there before it's too late? What is your point of view about this market?

As I said before Vueling is an airline focused on the south Mediterranean , and our business plan is based on a specific model which considers a determinate type of routes and destinations based on our customer's preferences. We are still very young and Morocco at this stage is to far from our plans right know. That does not mean we may never fly there in the future however increasing our actual routes and improving our services in the countries we fly remain our aims.

Thank you very much Mr Munoz for your time and your answers.