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At a Glance...
Volotea, one of the fastest growing independent airlines in Europe, required A320 Captains for 2023 seasonal contracts. Amid intense competition across the European pilot market, the airline needed a scalable flight crew recruitment campaign to secure qualified Type-Rated A320 Captains ahead of peak operations. In August 2022, Volotea engaged AeroProfessional to deliver a targeted flight crew recruitment programme aligned to its seasonal growth strategy.
The Situation...
Volotea is an award-winning Barcelona-based airline founded in 2011. Operating a fleet of 41 Airbus aircraft across 19 European bases, the airline celebrated carrying 50 million passengers in 2023. Continued fleet and route expansion make structured flight crew recruitment essential to maintaining operational resilience and seasonal capacity.
AeroProfessional specialises in aviation and flight crew recruitment across competitive European markets, supporting airlines with high-volume and seasonal pilot hiring campaigns.
In August 2022, Volotea partnered with AeroProfessional to support its A320 Captain flight crew recruitment campaign for the 2023 summer season.
The Solution...
The partnership enabled Volotea to access qualified A320 Captains at scale through AeroProfessional’s internal database of over 30,000 aviation professionals and a wider European pilot network approaching 100,000 contacts.
AeroProfessional managed the full end-to-end flight crew recruitment campaign, including a branded marketing strategy and a dedicated client portal to manage and track applications efficiently.
Recruitment consultants screened and interviewed hundreds of Type-Rated A320 pilots, conducting structured verification and vetting to ensure alignment with seasonal contract requirements and operational standards. Shortlisted Captains were presented fully qualified and prepared for final airline assessment.
The Results...
Following Phase 1 of the flight crew recruitment campaign, AeroProfessional delivered a detailed Recruitment Market Report to Volotea. The report included benchmarking data and targeted recommendations designed to optimise application flow within the Type-Rated A320 Captain talent pool.
Volotea implemented the recommendations immediately, resulting in a 50 percent uplift in applications from qualified candidates within the competitive European flight crew recruitment market.
Volotea achieved its 2023 seasonal flight crew recruitment targets by late spring, securing the required A320 Captain capacity ahead of peak operations.
In addition, the airline established a hold pool of pre-qualified Type-Rated A320 Captains in preparation for the 2024 campaign, strengthening forward workforce planning and ensuring continued flight deck stability.
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It was a pleasure to support Volotea with their 2023 hiring programme and to achieve such positive results for them. Volotea recognised that they were hiring amongst strong competition and placed themselves in the best possible position for success by working with people who truly understood the unique challenges faced by the industry. Adopting this strategy early saw them achieve their hiring numbers within the desired timeframe, which, in 2023 was extremely rare. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Volotea and replicating the success of this hiring programme in the near future.
Dean O’Sullivan
Associate Director
AeroProfessional
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At Volotea we realised very quickly that we would need to adapt our hiring strategy in response to the competitive market conditions. Finding the right partner, who had the specialist experience to support us in developing and delivering that strategy, was crucial. In AeroProfessional we found that partner, and we were delighted with the results that were achieved for our operation. We look forward to a long-standing and successful partnership with them for years to come.
Merlan van der Panne
Head of Pilot Recruitment
Volotea
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