Low cost carrier Vueling is discontinuing its services from Rome Fiumicino to both Split and Dubrovnik. Earlier this week, the airline initially reduced frequencies on the Rome - Split route but has since withdrawn ticket sales altogether, confirming the route’s termination. Vueling has also discontinued sales on the Rome - Dubrovnik service. The carrier will continue to offer indirect connectivity to both Croatian coastal cities via its Barcelona hub.
During the 2025 summer season, Vueling operated up to ten weekly flights between Rome and Split, as well as up to seven weekly services to Dubrovnik. At one point, the airline even maintained year-round operations between Rome and Dubrovnik. Despite the withdrawals from Rome, Vueling will retain flights from Barcelona to both Split and Dubrovnik and is also set to launch a new route between Bilbao and Split.
Vueling had previously announced the termination of five routes from Rome Fiumicino, alongside plans to lay off dozens of staff as part of a restructuring of its Italian network amid intensifying competition. The number of aircraft based at Fiumicino is set to be reduced from four to just one. In recent years, Vueling’s presence in Italy has already been undergoing a gradual reshaping, including the scaling back of operations and the closure or downsizing of bases in several key cities.
Although airlines are still finalising their summer schedules, during the peak summer months of June, July and August, Split Airport currently has 2.4 million seats on the market, representing a year-on-year decline of 0.7%. Over the same period, Dubrovnik Airport has 1.8 million seats available, down 1.9% compared to last year.
Vueling's cost structure is too high for an LCC.
ReplyDeleteThey can't really compete on price with the real LCCs nor with most legacy carriers in Europe.
True dat. They are getting 737MAX instead of Airbuses in the hope that their senior pilots will leave in order to replace them with young and inexperienced recruits for half their salary.
DeleteThey are also going to retrench back to Spain and close their foreign bases.
I'm surprised at how many flights they had from Rome to Split.
ReplyDeleteThe correct title for this article should have been “Vueling discontinues its FCO base” which is actually big news.
DeleteThey are not discontinuing their FCO base. Read more carefully.
Delete^ Give it a few months and it will.
DeleteFine I will give it a few months but your suggested title is still false.
DeleteWow, OU wins with its state-of-art route ZAG-SPU-FCO :)
ReplyDeleteIt is actually one of OU's most profitable routes.
DeleteWell I would say Ryanair wins. They fly both of these routes and I'm sure these Vueling passengers will migrate to Ryanair.
DeleteIm curious how Well it would work for them without the stop in Split rather just Direct from both ZAG and SPU
DeleteThis is mostly win for OU. Ryan has terrible schedule and only 4 flights a week.
DeletePretty soon V6 will only be flying to Spain from FCO. They are even cutting ORL.
ReplyDeleteV6was doing fine in FCO when Alitalia was a basket case, W6 had fleet issues and FR was mostly using Ciampino.
DeleteOnce all of the above changes they could no longer compete.
It is VY.
DeleteIndeed they are trying to compete in markets outside of Spain with little to no success.
I don't see them keeping even that one aircraft base in FCO past this coming summer season.
Just my2cents
+1
DeleteSimilar to Transavia failed attempts in Copenhagen and Munich. Somewhere you win, somewhere you lose. Important not to have long time permanent losses on your home market, like we have with OU in Croatia
Not a big surprise. Vueling has been slowly retreating from Italy for years and Rome–Croatia was always a very competitive market with thin margins.
ReplyDeleteShame for Dubrovnik. The Rome flight was actually quite useful, especially outside peak summer when options are more limited.
ReplyDeleteAs an Italian, I can say Vueling has lost its identity here. It’s neither cheap enough nor good enough to compete anymore.
ReplyDeleteAs a curious person, what is an Italian doing on an ex-yu site? :)
DeleteCuriosity killed the cat 🙂
DeleteVueling's Bilbao-Split will share the same fate as Wizz Air's Tirana-Tenerife route. I think both have about the same demand... minimal.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to enjoy it
DeleteHopefully those seat reductions in summer will be overturned as we approach the season.
ReplyDeleteRome-Split had strong loads in summer but probably terrible yields. Tourists don’t pay much
ReplyDeleteConnecting via Barcelona makes no sense for such short distances. This basically removes Vueling as an option. It's funny that they are selling on their website FCO-BCN-SPU with 10 hour transfers in BCN.
ReplyDelete😂
DeleteThat is a terrible itinerary!
Trust me someone will book it when they see its 2 euros cheaper than the nonstop option. Many people, especially younger travelers, don't even look at the timings. They just go to an OTA site and put lowest price in the filter.
DeleteTrue dat.
DeleteAnd stroll few hours on Rambla. Or go to the beach. Or have lunch. Or all of the above. I did it several times, different places, last time last year in Paphos. And I'm not even young traveller. Formally. Not in spirit 🙂
DeleteAnd get robbed and yelled at by locals
DeleteGreat news for OU!
ReplyDeleteDoes any other airline fly these routes except OU now?
DeleteRyanair flies both routes.
DeleteThanks
DeleteWizz could start these routes now from their FCO base.
ReplyDeleteDoubt they will go into fight with FR but let's see.
DeleteW6 is on a big expansion mode from FCO. If they have enough aircraft coming I don't why they wouldn't give it a try. Especially since it is a relatively short flight.
DeleteWatch this article appear copied word for word on another site in around 5-10 days but with the title EKSLUZIVNO PRVI OBJAVLJUJEMO.
ReplyDeleteI flew them for the first time this week from Ljubljana… LF was there and back 95%+
ReplyDelete