Vueling’s Cabin Crew Engagement Project: Crafting a Culture of Closeness that Bridges Borders

Building a shared culture across 90 airports and 16 European bases isn’t easy. Once a newcomer in European aviation, Vueling Airlines, part of the London-based IAG group (along with British Airways, Iberia and Air Lingus), celebrates over 20 years of business, now connecting over 90 destinations across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East.

This extensive multinational network presents enormous challenges in building a shared organizational culture, as each country—and often each region—brings unique  languages, cultural expectations, labor laws and negotiations, and operational nuances.

Recognizing that cabin crews play a crucial customer-facing role, Vueling understood that fostering a unified culture among its diverse teams was essential for delivering a standout customer experience, sustaining continued growth, and ensuring smooth daily operations.

Cabin Crews want to build a culture of closeness.

Through a collaborative effort, Vueling and Other Tomorrows embarked on in-depth qualitative research across Europe, involving over 100 stakeholders, customers, and cabin crew members at seven bases in Spain, France, and Italy. The goal of the project was twofold: to develop a strategic framework supporting Vueling's cultural transformation and to identify opportunities for fostering a unified culture among cabin crews and the broader organization under a shared vision.

During our interviews, the Spanish word "cercanía" (or "closeness") came up frequently, capturing the crews’ desire for genuine connection within the broader organization. For crew members, real engagement required a mindset shift away from viewing engagement as a quantifiable KPI and focusing instead on helping crews feel seen, trusted, recognized, and empowered. Improving the customer experience—a key way for airlines to differentiate themselves—begins by first enhancing the employee experience for cabin crews.

Focus the engagement model on dimensions of belonging and holistic human metrics.

We crafted a comprehensive engagement model based on five dimensions of belonging. This model was manifested through a strategy playbook featuring over 20 envisioned concepts to foster a sense of closeness and connection among crews. The playbook included a detailed crew member journey map and a subsequent roadmap for internal implementation, which we co-developed and prioritized with Vueling. To help Vueling measure its progress, we also designed a holistic measurement system that incorporates both active data (such as surveys) and passive data (operational metrics and leader in-flight observations).

After its completion in late 2024, the project is now in the implementation phase. Several project frameworks and concepts are actively being rolled out by Vueling’s teams, including the new Chief of Cabin Crew role, enhanced training for crew leaders, and new onboarding initiatives and milestones.