Vueling Airlines creating base at Rotterdam airport

From April next year, the Spanish budget airline Vueling will fly between Rotterdam The Hague Airport and its own home base Barcelona four times a week. IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, announced this on Friday. Vueling is a new face at the South Holland airport, but will not expand the range of destinations. Transavia already flies to Barcelona, which is a popular holiday destination. Vueling is already active at Schiphol. The budget airline has been using the airport in Amsterdam since 2011 as a base for direct flights to several cities in Spain. From Rotterdam flying to destinations other than Barcelona will only be possible with a transfer. Last year Vueling was acquired by the airline group IAG. With the acquisition IAG, unlike rival Air France KLM, now has a budget airline that has operating bases outside their own home markets. Apart from Schiphol, Vueling also has bases in Rome, Paris and Brussels. Transavia only works from the Netherlands and France. In September Air France KLM unveiled plans to change that, but the plans were cancelled due to pressure from striking pilots. The strike cost Air France KLM an estimated half billion euro. IAG managed this significantly better than its European competitors, thanks to major reorganizations and the purchase of fuel efficient aircraft. The merger was three years ago at the cost of thousands of jobs and was accompanied by a reduction in salaries. IAG also benefited from the favorable economic conditions in Britain and the United States.