Voloterra:
Our sustainability program
The environmental aspects of our activities
Our commitment to sustainability
Aviation is a powerful driving force for bringing people and markets together. This connection means more social interaction, stronger economies and growth opportunities created across the world. According to the study published ACI Europe, across Europe the aviation sector supports around 14 million jobs and contributes approximately 5% of European GDP. As aviation expands, the benefits of a more connected and prosperous society spread further and wider. At the same time, aviation is an emissions-intensive sector (including CO2 and other types of emissions) and currently does not have a short-term solution for completely eliminating them. Despite these challenges, the industry remains committed to investing in and taking steps towards progressively reducing its emissions and supporting long-term decarbonisation.
Our promise
Operate direct flights between small- and medium-sized cities in Europe, connecting previously unconnected or underserviced locations. This was our first step to help to reduce our customers’ travel impact. By helping them to avoid taking connecting flights, we have dramatically cut their ecological footprint.
Our vision
It is now time to do more. Truth be told, if we are really going to reduce CO₂ emissions, it has to be a joint effort between our customers, our business partners and us. With this in mind, we have just published our first CO₂ emissions reduction plan, and we would like to set out how we see it working.
Our future
Our ambition is to achieve net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050. This is a long-term target rather than a guaranteed outcome and depends on industry-wide developments and regulatory frameworks. Our roadmap includes increasing the use of sustainable aviation fuels, improving operational efficiency, and progressively renewing our fleet with more fuel-efficient aircraft.
OUR SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAMME VERIFIED BY EQA
We are continuing to progress towards decarbonised aviation, a key objective for the future of an essential industry for economic and social development. EQA has verified our environmental statements as part of our Voloterra program, reinforcing our commitment to our reduction targets and transparency.
The five pillars underpinning Voloterra
An efficient connectivity model
Volotea connects more than 100 cities across Europe with direct flights, which, according to our study, reduces CO2 emissions by up to 54% compared to flights with stopovers.
We maximize the occupancy of our scheduled flights and have recorded an average load factor of over 90% since 2018.
Among our more than 400 routes, in 2026 none can be covered by train in less than 3 hours. More than 93% of Volotea flights cannot be covered by train in less than 6 hours.
Volotea plays a key role in the connectivity of European islands. In summer 2026 (from June to September), 49% of our scheduled flights are connections with islands such as Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily or Mallorca, among others.
Reducing CO₂ emissions per passenger-kilometre
In 2021, we completed the transition of our fleet from Boeing 717 aircraft and upgraded it with more sustainable and efficient models, such as the Airbus 319 and 320, reaching a total of more than 40 aircraft.
Since we started flying in 2012, we have launched more than 50 initiatives to reduce the fuel consumption of our aircraft. By the end of 2024, these initiatives had helped reduce CO₂ emissions related to fuel consumption per passenger-kilometre (RPK), allowing us to achieve our 50% emissions reduction target compared with 2012, our launch year, more than 5 years ahead of schedule. This target had initially been planned for 2030. In 2025, the reduction in emissions per RPK exceeded 51% vs 2012, in line with our new objective of reducing direct carbon emissions per passenger-kilometre by 55%-60% by 2030.
Increase in the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)
Volotea collaborates with manufacturers, fuel suppliers and industry stakeholders to support the development and availability of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is an alternative to conventional aviation fuels, potentially reducing the industry’s reliance on fossil fuels. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), SAF has significant potential to contribute to reducing the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with aviation in the short and medium term. SAF produces similar CO2 emissions to conventional jet fuel during the flight but can achieve lower CO2 over its lifecycle, depending on the feedstock and production pathway used. The SAF that Volotea uses in its aircraft produces an average of 90% less CO2 emissions over its lifecycle than the current fossil-based jet fuel. As per ReFuel EU Aviation Regulation, we ensure that the SAF we select meets strict sustainability standards.
In 2025, we used more than 7 million litres of SAF on our flights, which accounts for 2.02% of all of our fuel burn, more than triple the industry average (the airline industry average for 2025 is 0.6% of total jet fuel demand). The EU mandates fuel providers to mix an average 2% of SAF for flights departing from the EU’s Union Airports, as those are defined in the ReFuel EU Aviation Regulation.
Our operations on Airbus’ internal Hamburg-Toulouse shuttle with a 10% SAF blend on average, and our passenger voluntary SAF programme, which enabled flights between Paris-Orly and Rodez with 6% SAF for approximately 3 months, are worth noting. Since 2022, we have used 9.4 million litres of SAF on our flights.
SAF availability remains limited in relation to the total aviation fuel demand and its cost 3-5 times higher than kerosene in the case of SAF and 6-8 times higher in the case of e-SAF. We therefore work with a number of providers to support the development and supply of SAF, with agreements in place with Moeve (formerly CEPSA), Repsol, Total and Enilive in Italy. In 2026, we signed an agreement with ECO2FLY, a Spanish eSAF project, to support the development of synthetic aviation fuel produced using captured CO₂ and renewable electricity.
In March 2025, Volotea applied for support available for the uplift of eligible aviation fuels under the framework of the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). This incentive aims to promote the uptake of eligible aviation fuels, notably of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), by granting EU ETS allowances to commercial aircraft operators that use such fuels on eligible routes within the scheme. In doing so, it seeks to mitigate some of the cost disparity between conventional kerosene and SAF.
In 2024, Volotea uplifted a total of 665,450 metric tonnes (MT) of eligible sustainable aviation fuel, of which 625,260 MT were attributed to flight routes falling within the EU ETS scope and were accompanied by the required documents to qualify for the support mechanism for eligible aviation fuel under the EU ETS. Consequently, in September 2025 Volotea was awarded with 6,796 EU ETS allowances (less than 1% of the total allowances delivered by Volotea for 2024), with a total value equivalent to 439,973 EUR based on the 2024 weighted average price of auctions (€64.74 per allowance) as published on the common auction platform, which were credited to its EU ETS account. Even if still not enough to compensate the extra cost of SAF vs. kerosene, these allowances provided some financial relief by offsetting a portion of the additional costs associated with using eligible sustainable aviation fuel in place of conventional jet fuel. Beyond this mechanism, Volotea has not received any other public or EU funding earmarked for the purchase of SAF.
Innovation and development
We are actively involved in industry forums and associations aiming to develop new technologies for operating with zero emissions.
In December 2022, we became investors in Dovetail Electric Aviation, a company making major strides toward developing the first commercial electric aircraft. In addition, in 2025, Volotea has become the first European airline to collaborate with 280 Earth, leaders in direct air-capture technology developed at Google X.
Transparency and verification
This marks the fifth consecutive year that Voloterra has passed an external audit, confirming the programme's measurable progress, our commitment to driving a more sustainable future in aviation, and Voloterra’s high standards, which are aligned with ISO 14064-1:2019 specifications, an international standard for verifying greenhouse gas emissions.
Each year, we produce our Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report. This document, which constitutes our Non-Financial Information Statement, embodies our commitment to making an impact beyond our income statement. All of our reports have been verified by an independent provider, in accordance with Spanish Law 11/2018 on non-financial information and diversity.
Take a look at these reports at the following links: VOLOTEA | Corporate Social Responsibility