Volaris Airline Company was founded on August 2005, and it is a low-cost Mexican airline based in Santa Fe, Mexico City. The airline company has its hub in Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Tijuana. The focus cities are Leon, Monterrey, and Cancun. Volaris is the second largest airline after Aeromexico. It serves domestic as well as international destinations within the Americas. Volaris is the leading airline in the Mexican domestic airline market. It has a market share of over 28% of domestic traffic.

The airline company commenced its operations on March 13, 2006.

History

The pre-operations phase of the airline company started in August 2005 under name Vuela Airlines. The primary idea for the airline company was formed from the Vuelmex project. The primary initial shareholders of the company were GrupoTelevisa, TACA Airlines, and Inbursa. Discovery Americas Fund was also a partner, and each partner invested 25% of the initial cost of the activities. In July 2010, it was announced that Televisa and Inbursa, both had sold their stake in Volaris, leaving the ownership of Volaris.

The ticket sales started on January 12, 2006 and following the delivery of the airline’s first aircraft, the first flight was operated in February 2006. The scheduled revenue flights were also launched on March 13, 2006.

This airline company began its service to Mexico City in September 2010 after absorbing flight routes from two defunct Mexican airlines, Mexicana and Aerocalifornia. In March 2011, this airline company announced that its hub in Toluca would move to Guadalajara.

The airline company launched a frequent flyer program called Vclub on June 2012. It is a membership program that provides special fare offers, last-minute travel deals, and many other perks. Customers can save up to 40% using the Vclub membership. Paypal became a payment alternative for the airline on June 6, 2012. It enabled the customers to purchase tickets directly from the airline’s website.

Volaris announced a codeshare partnership with Condor on September 17, 2012. In March 2013, this airline company celebrated its seventh anniversary and offered its passengers 70% of all flights. The company has done the same every year after that. Volaris also announced the creation of a subsidiary, Volaris Costa Rica, in March 2016. The subsidiary based at Juan Santamarina International airport started operations in November 2016.

International operations

Volaris announced a codeshare agreement with US-based low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines on November 2008. In April 2009, the airline company also announced the start of US-bound flights out of Toluca and Guadalajara to feed into the hubs of Southwestern Airlines. Later on, the US. Flights were also offered from Zacatecas and Morelia.

The airline company started services between Chicago/Midway and Guadalajara on December 2010. On February 2011, it was announced that the airline company would begin service to Fresno on April 14, 2011. Fresno was Volaris’ first US destination, and it did not partner with Southwest Airlines. The airline began using Guadalajara International Airport as an American Gateway hub in late 2011.

The airline company also sought permission to fly between Dallas and Mexico City along with several other US-Mexico routes; Volaris also submitted the request on February 3, 2011. The US. Department of Transportation granted the approval on February 11. Volaris also received an approval to fly to San Diego International airport on July 12, 2012. It then began non-stop flights between Orlando and Guadalajara on July 14, 2012.

The airline company also started service between Sacramento and Guadalajara on November 15, 2012.

Services

The cabins of this airline company are configured in a single class and high density layout. The airline company does not provide complimentary meals or drinks on its flights. The passenger may also purchase the items on board from the ‘Entre Nubes’ buy on board program. The onboard sakes are a very important part of the ancillary revenue of the airline company.