Spanish carrier Volotea has unveiled plans for a new base in Brest, becoming its ninth in France and the 20th across Europe.

One Airbus A320 aircraft will be stationed at the Brittany airport from April 2024, facilitating the launch of 13 new routes. Services to Athens, Greece, Barcelona, Spain, Faro, Portugal, and Palermo, Italy, have so far been confirmed, and more new destinations will be announced “in the coming weeks.”

The expansion coincides with the 10th anniversary of Volotea serving Brest Bretagne Airport (BES). Since operations to the city started, the airline has carried almost 700,000 passengers on more than 5,300 flights.

“We are proud that our 2024 offer will see us reach our maximum capacity and will be enriched by 13 new routes next year, the creation of local jobs and the opening of new markets for tourism in Brittany,” Volotea Founder and CEO Carlos Muñoz says.

The opening of the new base is expected to result in a substantial expansion of routes and frequencies from BES. Volotea plans to offer nearly 400,000 seats in 2024, tripling its 2023 capacity. Passenger numbers are anticipated to exceed 345,000 next year, reflecting a 190% growth compared to 2023.

Claude Arphexad, director of Brest-Bretagne Airport, welcomed the development, highlighting the airport’s ambition to increase connectivity and meet passenger demand for direct flights to target destinations. “Having an aircraft based here opens up major development prospects for us and will enable us to satisfy the strong demand from our passengers for direct flights to key European cities,” he adds.

The new routes to Athens, Barcelona, Faro and Palermo will each operate twice a week.

Separately, Volotea has won the tender for the Strasbourg, France-Berlin Brandenburg public service delegation route. The route will be operated twice weekly with A320s from Nov. 20.