easyJet (UK) has made this announcement:
- Building on the success of its new seasonal bases, easyJet will add two aircraft in Malaga, two in Palma de Mallorca and one in Faro from May next year
- The investment will create around 150 direct jobs for pilots and crew under local contracts in both Spain and Portugal
- The announcement follows easyJet’s strategy to take advantage of key growth opportunities across its network including at its seasonal bases which have proved successful during the pandemic
As the European aviation market continues to recover, easyJet has today announced it will be expanding its network of seasonal bases by adding five more aircraft across bases Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Faro from May 2022. The investment will create around 120 direct jobs in Spain where the airline currently employs more than 400 people, all under local contracts along with 30 jobs in the Faro base.
As a result, next summer easyJet will have five based aircraft in Malaga where it is the second largest airline, and seven in Palma, bringing the Spanish fleet to 16 aircraft, including four in its base in Barcelona. It will also add an additional aircraft into Portugal at the Faro base. This means the airline will have increased its fleet based in Portugal and Spain by 70% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Adding more capacity to the airline’s bases in Málaga and Palma builds on our successful destination bases in Southern Europe, positioning easyJet as the best option to serve these popular destinations and enabling us to capture a larger slice of peak demand. These new based aircraft will allow easyJet to reinforce existing markets, as well as explore new flows in the future that were previously inaccessible for easyJet providing the airline long term growth in these destinations.
This follows this traffic uptick:
- Flight bookings from the UK have seen a surge since the UK government announcement, with leisure trips to Alicante, Majorca and Faro among the top destinations and October proving the most popular time for travel
- In the coming days easyJet will be adding a further 51,000 seats for departures from the UK to beach destinations for October
- High demand for flights to ski destinations in the New Year, with the top destinations being Geneva from Manchester, London Luton, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and London Gatwick
- easyJet holidays has seen a surge in demand, with families in particular booking for October half term with breaks to Majorca, Antalya, Tenerife and Sharm el Sheikh leading the way. There is also an increase in city break bookings, with holidaymakers happier to go away for shorter periods of time now they won’t incur additional testing costs
- easyJet continue to provide flexibility for flights through its Protection Promise, including fee-free flight changes to any date or destination up to 2 hours before departure
easyJet has seen UK bookings surge within hours of the UK Government confirmation that from 4 October, fully vaccinated travelers will no longer be required to take a PDT (pre-departure test) to return to the UK from non-red list countries. Flight bookings for the late summer season increased significantly, with beach resorts among top destinations for this autumn and travel in October proving most popular, suggesting that Brits are keen to book a late summer break getaway.
Alicante, Majorca, and Tenerife in Spain and Faro in Portugal are proving to be the most popular destinations for travel in October. In the coming days easyJet will be adding a further 51,000 seats for departures from the UK to beach destinations for October.
With Turkey no longer on the Red list, extra seats have been added on flights from across the UK, including London Gatwick, London Luton, Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol Airports to Dalaman, a destination known for its natural coves, beautiful turquoise waters and protected natural park. Flights are also available to Antalya, a destination known as the Pearl of the Mediterranean that offers a mix of golden beaches, blue waters, ancient ruins and traditional Turkish experiences.
easyJet has also seen strong early demand for ski destinations for the New Year, with the top destinations being Geneva from Manchester, London Luton, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and London Gatwick. As the UK’s largest ski airline, easyJet will be flying over 1 million seats this winter to top ski destinations including Geneva, Grenoble, Lyon, Salzburg, Turin and Innsbruck.
easyJet operates 325 routes from the UK to 94 destinations across 35 countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from the UK and is one of the UK leading operators to European Green and Amber list destinations, with nearly two million seats still available for a late summer getaway.
Finally the airline urges industry and government collaboration to make zero emission flights a week:
- Net zero emissions from flights can be achieved through joint, coordinated and decisive industry and government efforts
- Governments should provide incentives for future early adopters of zero-emission technology to help accelerate the transition to net zero at scale
- In the meantime, governments should deliver on objectives for the Single European Sky and formally recognise offsetting – both is something that can have an impact right now
- easyJet is committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and actively contributing to the goals set in the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement through a number of actions
easyJet is urging industry and government to work closely together to deliver on the zero-emission technology needed to transform the industry over the coming decade and beyond.
Speaking from Toulouse at the Airbus Summit, easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren, will say that the vision of zero-emission flying can only be brought ever-closer through coordinated action which should focus efforts on some key areas.
Firstly, governments need to support the development of hydrogen supply and infrastructure at airports alongside investments into renewable energy to support the creation of green hydrogen for aviation.
Secondly, governments will not only need to provide financial incentives to support the development and scaling up of zero-emission technology but also should be ploughing funds raised through aviation taxes into the R&D that is required.
Thirdly, airlines choosing to become early adopters of the new technology should be incentivized through reduced airspace and airport charges and also provided with tax exemptions if they are operating zero-emission aircraft and be prioritized for airport slots.
Lastly, easyJet has identified the priority need to make sure the right framework is in place to ensure progress and support for widespread adoption of zero-emission aircraft where these are feasible, such as on short-haul networks. easyJet will be using SAF in the interim, but the company believes the most sustainable long-term solution for a short-haul carrier are zero-emission aircraft.
easyJet has worked in partnership with Airbus since 2019 to support the development of a hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft by 2035. A crucial part of easyJet’s role has been to work with the manufacturer to provide a commercial airline’s perspective in the development of new zero-emission propulsion technologies for passenger planes.
Top Copyright Photo: easyJet (UK) Airbus A321-251NX WL G-UZMA (msn 8314) (NEO) LGW (Richard Vandervord). Image: 955150.
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