UK carrier easyJet has announced a number of network additions for the forthcoming winter 2023-24 season, as well as plans to open a seasonal summer base in the Spanish city of Alicante.
London Southend Airport (SEN) will see an expansion of operations this winter, as the airline reintroduces a year-round route to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). Flights will resume on Oct. 29, operating four times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
The LCC first commenced SEN-CDG flights in February 2016 and maintained a year-round service until April 2020, as the global pandemic set in. Paris will become the fifth destination served from the UK airport, alongside flights to Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Faro and Amsterdam.
Data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows that the SEN-CDG route will be one of three easyJet plans to offer in the London-Paris market during winter 2023-24. London Luton-CDG will be served 18X-weekly, while London Gatwick (LGW)-CDG will be 24X-weekly.
Additionally, British Airways and Air France will connect London Heathrow and CDG with 7X-daily and 6X-daily flights, respectively, and Vueling will offer a LGW-Paris Orly route 18 times per week.
Other network additions from the UK for winter 2023-24 include flights from Birmingham Airport (BHX) to CDG and Lyon (LYS). From Oct. 30, service to France’s capital will operate daily, while LYS will be served three times per week on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays.
“Bolstering capacity to the French capital and starting services to currently unserved Lyon have been key priorities for BHX since the first iteration of Flybe went out of business back in 2020,” BHX aviation director Tom Screen says.
The addition of the two cities brings the number of easyJet domestic and international routes from BHX to 13. The expansion comes a week after the airline announced plans to create a base at BHX for three of its 186-seater Airbus A320neo aircraft from March 2024.
Elsewhere, the airline plans to add a further six routes from the UK this winter, including flying to Akureyri in northern Iceland for the first time.
From Oct. 29, a 3X-weekly service will be added between Belfast International and Southampton, following by a 3X-weekly London Luton-Enfidha route the next day. Flights from LGW to Akureyri will start on Oct. 31, operating 2X-weekly, while Bristol-Marrakech will also be 2X-weekly from the same date.
A 2X-weekly Glasgow-Southampton service begins on Nov. 2, and a 1X-weekly Manchester-Grenoble service launches on Dec. 10.
Alongside the new routes, easyJet has said it plans to open a seasonal base in Alicante from spring 2024. Three aircraft will be stationed in the Spanish city.
The move will enable the carrier to increase capacity at Alicante to 1.62 million seats during summer 2024—up by about 16% on summer 2023.
“Alicante is a very attractive destination, and we believe that having a base offers great potential to expand our operations in the country, as well as allowing us to improve connectivity to and from the region,” says Javier Gándara, easyJet’s country director for southern Europe.
Since easyJet started operating from Alicante in 1999, the airline has carried 27.5 million passengers to and from the city. It is now the second-largest international airline at the airport.
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