EasyJet has opened bases at London Southend, Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino airports as it plots moderate capacity growth this summer.
The UK low-cost carrier is increasing seat capacity by around 2% this year in its airline operations, notably focusing much of its expansion on flights to non-EU markets such as North Africa and Turkey, as well as to beach destinations.
“The booking environment looks okay,” said EasyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis, speaking at media briefing to mark the restoration of a base operation at Southend on 31 March, which is being followed by similar events at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate over the coming days.
“We’ve added relatively modest capacity; its increases in some areas, decreases in others, and we are seeing the load factor slightly ahead of where it was this time last year.”
EasyJet operated a base at Southend with five A320ceos until the pandemic hit in 2020. It is now basing three A320neos at the airport, enabling it to offer longer-range destinations to Turkey, the Canaries and North Africa from Southend.
Expansion in Italy at Fiumicino and Linate follows EasyJet picking up remedy slots released by Lufthansa and ITA Airways to secure European Commission approval for the latter’s acquisition by the Star Alliance carrier group. The carrier is basing three aircraft in Rome and five at Linate – three of which it is wet-leasing from ITA.
