Vueling Airlines is a Spanish low-cost airline based at El Prat de Llobregat in Greater Barcelona with hubs in Barcelona–El Prat Airport and Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy. Its name comes from the Spanish word vuelo, which means flight. It is the second largest airline in Spain. There are thirteen additional bases at A Coruña, Alicante, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Florence, Madrid, Málaga, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Orly, Santiago de Compostela, Seville and Valencia. A fifteenth summer seasonal base is located at Ibiza.
Vueling serves over 100 destinations in Africa, Asia and Europe and is the largest airline in Spain. In 2015, the airline carried more than 24 million passengers, with a load factor of 81%.
Vueling was established in February 2004 and commenced operations on 1 July 2004 with a flight between Barcelona and Ibiza. The initial fleet consisted of two Airbus A320 aircraft, based in Barcelona serving Brussels, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca and Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
Initially, major shareholders of Vueling Airlines were Apax Partners (40%), Inversiones Hemisferio (Grupo Planeta) (30%), Vueling's management team (23%) and V.A. Investor (JetBlue Airways) (7%). During its nascent stages, the company's general manager was Lázaro Ros, while Carlos Muñoz was CEO. In November 2007, Vueling appointed managing director of Spanair Lars Nygaard as CEO to replace Carlos Muñoz, who remained a member of the Board of Directors.
Madrid was added as the airline's second base in 2005, followed by its first base outside Spain at Paris Charles de Gaulle in 2007. Seville followed in December 2009.