Vueling CEO Calls For Policy Support

SEVILLE, Spain—European sustainability regulations must be recalibrated to support short-haul carriers’ ability to invest, Vueling CEO Carolina Martinoli said at Routes Europe 2025.

“The regulation is very well intended, but needs a degree of recalibration for competitiveness,” Martinoli told delegates, warning that current measures disproportionately affect intra-European low-cost operators like Vueling. “We need policies that support the transition, while preserving airlines’ ability to invest in sustainability.”

Martinoli, who took over as CEO of the International Airlines Group subsidiary a year ago, said the airline is fully committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 but cannot do it alone. “Everyone looks at [carriers]—but we buy every new-technology plane that there is to buy. We buy every drop of SAF [sustainable aviation fuel] that there is to buy,” she said. “But we need more availability of everything—and for that, we need other actors to play their role.”

Martinoli’s comments come amid mounting industry concerns over the achievability of near-term SAF mandates under the EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulation. While the 2025 target of 2% SAF use is considered attainable, several European airline CEOs recently warned at the Airlines For Europe summit in Brussels that the 6% threshold required by 2030 may be out of reach without urgent action to stimulate production and supply.

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Martinoli stressed that while the industry must change, it also needs support to do so. “Aviation is a value creator—economically, socially and even in terms of human development,” she said. “If policies simply suppress demand, they suppress these benefits, too.”

On the network side, Martinoli said that Vueling continues to strengthen its position in Spain and across Europe. The airline will begin flying to Cordoba this September, marking presence at every airport in Andalucía, and is adding routes to Tirana, Salerno and Essaouira. “Barcelona is one of the best-connected cities in Europe through our network, and we keep launching new possibilities,” Martinoli said.

She also flagged disruption management and digital transformation as key focus areas for the LCC. The airline is working with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center to forecast operational disruptions using weather data and is leveraging artificial intelligence across customer service, predictive maintenance and operational efficiency. “We’re just scratching the surface,” she said. “The possibilities are endless.”

Reflecting on industry-wide challenges, Martinoli pointed to geopolitical risks, supply chain disruptions, air traffic control delays and rising costs—but said Vueling’s transformation mindset keeps it resilient. “Disruption is here to stay. It’s structural now,” she said. “We need to be structurally ready to manage it.”

Despite headwinds, Martinoli remains optimistic. “I was already an admirer of Vueling before I joined,” she said. “It’s a dynamic, innovative, transformation-minded team. No two days are the same in aviation—and that’s what makes it so fascinating.”