Clickair

If you stood at the fence at Barcelona El Prat between 2006 and 2009, you had two Spanish low-cost airlines with Airbus A320s in your viewfinder that competed head-to-head on many routes: Vueling and Clickair. Today only one of them exists. Clickair was Iberia’s low-cost answer to the budget-airline boom in Catalonia – and disappeared in a merger after not even three years. This page shows you how the airline was set up, which aircraft it flew and how to reliably attribute Clickair in old photos and logbooks.

Clickair at a glance

Clickair was a Spanish low-cost airline based in El Prat de Llobregat near Barcelona. It was founded in 2006 – initially under the working name Catair, made up of “Cat” for Catalonia and “Air”. Shortly before the start it received the name under which it became known. Ticket sales began in September 2006, and on October 1, 2006 the first flight took off from Barcelona to Seville. Three Airbus A320s were ready at the start, serving five routes from Barcelona.

Iberia was behind the project. The Spanish network airline no longer wanted to watch in Barcelona as low-cost carriers divided up the market among themselves. Instead of making its own brand cheaper, it founded a separate company with its own name, its own cost structure and its own look – a pattern you find again at many network airlines. How such multi-brand setups work is explained in the article on airline subsidiaries and brand strategy.

The end came quickly. In summer 2008 Clickair and Vueling announced they would merge, and by July 2009 the merger was complete. The combined airline has flown under the name Vueling since, and the name Clickair disappeared from the schedules. For spotters it is now a chapter of Spanish aviation history – one that is still very present in many photo archives from El Prat.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code XG: appeared in the flight number, on departure boards and tickets. The code had previously been used by another Spanish company that had ended its passenger operations.
• ICAO code CLI: used by air traffic control in the flight plan.
• Callsign CLICKJET: this is how the crew identified itself on the radio.

For archive work the difference matters: on old departure boards you find XG and a number, while in recorded radio traffic or ADS-B logs you find CLI or “CLICKJET”. Because Clickair also offered codeshares with Iberia, the same flight could additionally be sold with an IB number. How IATA and ICAO codes relate in general you can read in the guide IATA and ICAO codes explained, and the difference between callsign and flight number in the article Callsign and flight number.

Owners: Iberia in the background

On paper Clickair was broadly based. Five shareholders each held 20 percent of the voting rights: Iberia, the construction and services group Cobra, the hotel group Iberostar, the investment company Nefinsa and Quercus Equity from the circle around the Agrolimen group. Economically it looked different: Iberia owned around 80 percent of the economic rights, the other four partners about 5 percent each.

That made Clickair formally a separate airline with a Catalan character but in fact a low-cost offshoot of Iberia. This was also visible in everyday operations: Clickair offered codeshare flights with Iberia, and passengers could collect miles in Iberia’s frequent flyer program. Clickair had no alliance membership of its own.

The airline was run by Álex Cruz as managing director, with Carlos Losada as chairman. Cruz also played an important role after the end of Clickair: he took over the leadership of the merged Vueling and later headed British Airways.

Shareholder	Voting rights	Economic rights
Iberia	20 %	around 80 %
Cobra	20 %	around 5 %
Iberostar	20 %	around 5 %
Nefinsa	20 %	around 5 %
Quercus Equity	20 %	around 5 %

The fleet: only Airbus A320s

Clickair consistently relied on a single type: the Airbus A320 in the -200 version. All aircraft were uniformly fitted with 180 seats in one class, arranged in rows of three on the left and right of the center aisle. That is the classic low-cost recipe: one type, one cabin, one maintenance program, interchangeable crews.

Part of the fleet was newly taken over, but a large part came second-hand – from Iberia itself. Many Clickair A320s had originally been built for the parent and changed colors within the group. Most recently the fleet comprised around 26 aircraft. The original plans were considerably larger: by the end of 2008, 30 A320s were to be flying 70 routes and carrying around 10 million passengers a year. When fuel prices rose in 2008, Clickair scaled back growth and took on only one more aircraft instead of the planned five.

Type	Seats	Origin	Spotter note
Airbus A320-200	180 (one class)	partly new, many ex-Iberia	First-generation A320, Spanish EC- registration

The manufacturer is Airbus. Newer types such as the A320neo played no role at Clickair – the neo came to market only years after the end of the airline. If you sort old photos, you can be sure: a Clickair aircraft is always a first-generation A320, today often called “ceo”. How to tell ceo and neo apart is explained in the article A320neo or ceo?. How to distinguish the members of the family is shown in the guide Telling the A318, A319, A320 and A321 apart reliably.

Network and bases

The heart of Clickair was Barcelona El Prat Airport. From here the airline flew within Spain and to destinations in Europe, as well as to Morocco and Tunisia. Depending on the source and the date, just under 40 to just over 40 destinations are cited – the network changed several times in the three years. From Barcelona it went to Amsterdam, Athens, Lisbon, Rome Fiumicino and Zurich, among others.

Besides Barcelona, Clickair built up further bases where aircraft were stationed overnight. In early 2008 these were, besides Barcelona, the airports of Valencia, Seville, Málaga, Bilbao and A Coruña. From Valencia, Clickair served London Heathrow, Paris Orly and Milan Malpensa, for example – remarkable destinations for a low-cost airline, because many budget carriers avoid such large and expensive airports.

On pricing, Clickair played the industry’s typical game: at the start the airline advertised promotional fares of 9 euros per leg including taxes and fees, with baggage costing extra. How this model works economically is explained in the article How low-cost carriers work.

The merger with Vueling

Clickair and Vueling were neighbors with the same recipe. Both flew Airbus A320s, both had their hub at El Prat, both wanted to conquer the Barcelona market with low prices. For spotters that meant a varied picture on the runways of El Prat in those years – for the airlines themselves, though, mainly an expensive price war on the same routes.

In 2008 pressure from outside was added: fuel prices rose sharply, and both companies had to save. In summer 2008 Clickair and Vueling announced that they wanted to merge, with Iberia as the most important industrial partner. In July 2009 the merger was complete. Sources give slightly different dates for the last day under its own name, but they agree on the result: the new airline carries the name Vueling, keeps its codes VY and VLG, and Álex Cruz of Clickair takes over the leadership.

Iberia remained a major shareholder of the new Vueling afterward. In 2013 the International Airlines Group, to which Iberia also belongs, took control of Vueling. In a roundabout way, Clickair thus ended up exactly where the project had once begun: in Iberia’s orbit.

How to recognize Clickair

Because the airline has not existed since 2009, recognizing it is mainly about old photos, logbooks and the life stories of individual aircraft. These features help you:

• Type: At Clickair it was always an Airbus A320-200. An A319, A321 or a Boeing type rules out Clickair.
• Registration: The fleet was registered in Spain, so you see an EC- before the letters.
• Titles: The name “clickair” on the fuselage is the surest feature – the registration confirms the attribution.
• Place and time: Photos from Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Málaga, Bilbao or A Coruña between autumn 2006 and summer 2009 are typical.
• Codes: XG in the flight number, CLI or “CLICKJET” on the radio.

An exciting side aspect is the aircraft themselves. Many Clickair A320s have three lives behind them: first Iberia, then Clickair, then Vueling or another operator. Around 20 aircraft went to Vueling after the merger, the others moved to other airlines, and some were initially parked. If you follow a registration over the years, you can document the same aircraft in several liveries. At transitions, hybrid forms sometimes appear too – how to recognize such intermediate stages is explained in the article on hybrid and mixed liveries.

Clickair today: traces for spotters

You will no longer see Clickair aircraft in original colors today. Even so, the airline remains exciting, in three ways.

First, in the archive. If you photographed between 2006 and 2009 at El Prat or at the Spanish bases, you very likely have Clickair on your memory card. These shots are now small historical documents – especially if registration, date and place are noted cleanly. You can find tips on filing in the article Archiving aircraft photos.

Second, through the registrations. Many former Clickair A320s kept flying under other names after 2009. With the registration you can trace where an aircraft ended up. How to research an aircraft’s history from its registration is shown in the guide Understanding aircraft registrations; how to keep following a particular aircraft is explained in the article Tracking an aircraft by registration.

Third, on location. In Barcelona today it is mainly Vueling that shapes the picture – the airline into which Clickair merged. If you want to spot there, the plane spotting guide for Barcelona and the spot at the El Prat aircraft viewpoint (Mirador) will help. For comparison, a look at another vanished airline from Barcelona is worthwhile: Spanair, which ceased flight operations in 2012.

Common mix-ups

• Taking Clickair for an independent airline without Iberia – formally there were five shareholders, but economically most of it belonged to Iberia.
• Confusing Clickair with Iberia Express – Iberia Express is a later low-cost subsidiary of its own, focused on Madrid.
• Equating Clickair and Vueling before 2009 – until the merger they were two competing airlines at the same airport.
• Attributing XG flights to later airlines – IATA codes are sometimes reassigned after an airline ends. So always attribute XG together with the date.
• Noting a Clickair aircraft as an A320neo – Clickair flew only first-generation A320s.

Conclusion

Clickair was a short but typical chapter of European low-cost history: a network airline founds a cheap offshoot that fights a competitor at the same airport for the same passengers – until the two join forces. For spotters a clear formula remains: A320, EC- registration, Barcelona, 2006 to 2009. If you also note the registration, you can follow the aircraft’s history to this day.