British Airways offered more than 4 million departure seats from London Gatwick last year, but the airline has raised the possibility of leaving the airport as it grapples with the COVID-19 crisis.
Italian flag carrier Alitalia has suspended Milan Malpensa flights as part of efforts to control the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy. American Airlines and LATAM Airlines Group have also halted flights to Milan.
For business travellers, a growing segment of easyJet’s passenger count, the new bases will enable the carrier to better serve the demands of its premium passengers in Barcelona and Venice with new earlier morning departures affording a more flexible schedule for same day trip arrangements to Europe’s main economic centres.
From the start of the Summer 2016 schedules on March 27, 2016, easyJet will introduce a new six times weekly domestic connection between Bordeaux and Marseille and a four times weekly link between Bordeaux and Berlin. A couple of weeks later a new four times weekly link from Bordeaux to Barcelona will be introduced from April 15, 2016, while a three times weekly service to Venice will follow on April 17, 2016.
easyJet will open the new base at Venice Marco Polo Airport from April 2016 with four Airbus aircraft stationed at the airport. The Italian city has for some time been a key network point for easyJet, having operated flights into and out of the city since 1998. It will also introduce three more aircraft at Milan Malpensa and a fourth jet at Naples.
The new flight, operated by a 280-seat Boeing 767-300ER will fly on a twice weekly basis through to October 11, 2015, complementing the airline’s existing link to Venice from Toronto’s Lester B Pearson International Airport for summer 2015, meaning it now offers more seats between Canada and Venice during the peak summer season than any other airline.
With five based aircraft, Berlin will become the airlines’ 73rd base, and will see the launch of sixteen new routes, bringing the total number of destinations to 22.
The addition of the routes from Liège will expand the VLM network to nine destinations in six countries and will continue a recent growth in passenger operations at Liège Bierset Airport, which is better known as a major European freight hub.
The Alitalia network will be one of the main pillars of the new strategy alongside Cooperation, Fleet, Guest Service and Brand with a new three-hub strategy in Italy being introduced.
Amsterdam is already one of easyJet’s most successful network points with more than 3.5 million passengers flying annually to and from 21 destinations. It revealed earlier this year its plans to open a base at Schiphol Airport to further strengthen the airline’s long term strategic position at the airport, where it now holds a nine per cent market share having first introduced flights back in 1996.
