The low cost carrier that operates from Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, Vueling, is to resume flights to Malta, it was announced last week, with three flights a week to Malta operated from Rome Fiumicino Airport.

Vueling has revealed plans to expand massively its presence at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport next summer, with the introduction of 24 new routes (seven domestic and 17 international) and the decision to base a total of eight Airbus aircraft at the airport. Of the 24 new destinations to be served only three (all in Spain) are not already served by one or more carriers (based on schedule data for June 2013).

There is no date announced yet for the beginning of the Vueling flights to and from Malta. This route is already served by 10 Air Malta flights, seven by Alitalia and four by easyJet.

The airline has opened another base in Florence and on 25 October it inaugurated its first Italian domestic flight from Florence to Catania. On 20 November, Vueling announced further expansion from Florence: it will base a second Airbus 319 and it will open new routes to Bari, Cagliari, Catania, Ibiza, Mykonos, Santorini and Palermo.

The small Spanish airline, until recently little known outside its home market, is underpinning increasingly bullish profit forecasts from International Consolidated Airlines Group.

IAG, which took full control of Vueling in April, is a "growth animal," Chief Financial Officer Enrique Dupuy said as the company raised its 2015 operating profit target by 13%.

Last August International Airlines Group highlighted an aggressive expansion plan for Vueling by announcing a $5.4bn order with Airbus for 62 narrow-body passenger jets.

IAG, parent of British Airways and Iberia, also outlined options to buy up to 58 more narrow-body aircraft for Vueling, as it seeks to provide strong competition for low-cost carriers led by Ryanair and easyJet.