About

Vueling’s niche under the International Airlines Group (IAG) umbrella is to provide low-cost high-volume flights on lucrative routes with a no-frills service, in the same mould as their competitors Ryanair and EasyJet. To do this they have a large fleet of over 100 planes, representing a huge ongoing investment that constantly maintained to ensure the most economical aircraft are used. For instance, in 2013, a $5.4bn order was placed with Airbus to supply new aircraft over the next few years, as part of an aggressive Vueling expansion strategy. Besides these high-profile deals, there are a myriad of day-to-day issues that the Vueling legal team, headed by general counsel and board secretary Marcos Alvarez Almodovar, has to deal with. The team contains a number of experts in dispute resolution, a necessity given the frequency with which claims are made by customers on a number of issues and the heavily regulated nature of the airline industry. Because of this, the team is also responsible for compliance matters, which allows it to prevent issues from developing into claims against the company. In addition to this, the team inputs frequently to the management level of the company, playing an important in forming company strategy and managing legal risk.