Clickair was a

low-cost airline A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

that was based in the ''Parc de Negocis Mas Blau'' in

El Prat de Llobregat El Prat de Llobregat (), commonly known as El Prat , is a municipality of Spain located in the ''comarca'' of Baix Llobregat in Catalonia. The Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport largely lies within the municipal limits. It is part of ...

, near

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Clickair flew to nearly 40 destinations in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The airline's main base was Barcelona–El Prat Airport with further bases at

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Clickair merged into

Vueling Vueling S.A. is a Spanish low-cost airline based at El Prat de Llobregat in Greater Barcelona with hubs at Barcelona–El Prat Airport (main), Paris-Orly Airport in Paris, France and Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy (seconda ...

on 15 July 2009. The company slogan was Catalan: Vola intel·ligent (''Fly smart).''

History

Early years

The company was first called Catair, derived from CAT (CATalonia) and AIR, but changed its name to Clickair just before starting operations. Clickair positioned itself as a

and offered a

buy on board Buy may refer to a trade, i.e., an exchange of goods and services via bartering or a monetary purchase. The term may also refer to: Places * Buy (inhabited locality), any of several inhabited localities in Russia * Burlington-Alamance Regional A ...

programme for food, drinks, and other goods. The airline started operations on 1 October 2006 with three

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...

aircraft operating five routes from its Barcelona hub. The company was founded from initial capital investment from Cobra,

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Iberostar Iberostar Group is a global tourism company and hotel group. The company has four areas of business: the hotel division, the core business of the company; the holiday club, called The Club; the inbound tourism and travel brands Almundo.com, Wo ...

, Nefinsa and Quercus Equity (Group Agrolimen), each with a 20% share, with Iberia setting up the airline. Although Iberia held a 20% stake in the airline, it controlled 80% of its economic rights. The company has plans for the operation of 30

s on 70 routes, carrying 10 million passengers a year by the end of 2008. Clickair's IATA code, XG was inherited from

Gestair Cargo Gestair ( es, Grupo Gestair) is an aeronautical group based in Madrid, Spain. In 2008 it operated three business units, including air cargo.Gestair websitGestair Group/ref> History Gestair was founded in 1977 in Madrid. It specialized in offerin ...

's retired passenger airline Regional Líneas Aéreas.

Merger with Vueling

In June 2008, Clickair and rival Spanish low-cost airline

announced their intention to merge. The merger was agreed because they wanted to make a single carrier better equipped to take out high fuel costs and fees, and both airlines were losing a lot of money. The merger would cause Clickair to cease operations because Vueling was to be the name of the new airline. The airline was to be based in

where both of the low-cost airlines were based and were to keep its original hubs. Boss of Clickair Alex Cruz was also to be the chief executive of the airline. 5 aircraft were planned to be introduced in 2008, however, the airline scaled back its expansion plans and would add only one aircraft to the fleet during the year. On 15 July 2009 the merger of

and Clickair was completed. The newly merged airline operates under the Vueling brand, with Clickair ceasing its operations. Since the merger, Vueling has become the second-largest Spanish carrier flying 8.2 million passengers in 2009, to almost 50 destinations. After ceasing operations, 20 of the 26 aircraft went to Vueling. The rest of the fleet went to

Astraeus Airlines Astraeus Limited, trading as Astraeus Airlines, was a British airline based at Astraeus House in Crawley, West Sussex, England. Founded in 2002, and named after the Greek God of the dusk, it entered administration on 21 November 2011, ceasing ...

Vertir Airlines Vertir Airlines was an airline based in Yerevan, Armenia, that provided cargo services out of Zvartnots International Airport. The company was founded in 2007, and revenue flights were launched on 29 August 2010. The company ceased operations in ...

and

Ural Airlines Ural Airlines (russian: Ура́льские авиали́нии, ''Ural’skiye avialinii'') is an airline based in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, that operates scheduled and chartered domestic and international flights out of Kolt ...

, with two being stored.

Destinations

Fleet

The Clickair fleet consisted of the following aircraft at 21 March 2009:Clickair Fleet Age
/ref>

References

External links

* (Archive) {{European Low Fares Airline Association Defunct airlines of Spain Defunct European low-cost airlines Airlines established in 2006 Airlines disestablished in 2009