Tag Archives: easyJet.com

EasyJet to add five new routes in the winter schedule

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has today added a further five routes to its flight schedule making 190,000 more seats available for its passengers.

The new routes will take off from October 17, 2013.

The schedule additions include a new route to the Romanian capital of Bucharest, Larnaca in Cyprus, Venice, Lyon and Tenerife. The routes will fly from across easyJet’s UK bases including London Gatwick, London Luton, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. This former GB Airways Airbus A320-232 registered as G-TTOH (msn 1993) and pictured at Palma de Mallorca was incorporated into the easyJet fleet for only a short period before it was returned and later migrated to AviaNova (EI-ELN) and Yamal Airlines (VP-BCN).

EasyJet (UK):

EasyJet commits to 135 Airbus A320 aircraft, subject to shareholder approval

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton), subject to shareholder approval, intends to place a firm order with Airbus for 100 A320neo aircraft. These will be preceded by 35 A320ceo aircraft equipped with Sharklets. Of the 135 aircraft, 85 will be for replacement.

Copyright Photo: Andi Hiltl/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 G-EZUI (msn 4721) in the special 200th Airbus livery departs from Zurich.

EasyJet:

EasyJet’s traffic to more than double at London Stansted over the next five years

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has reached a new agreement with the new owners of London Stansted Airport (STN) (north of central London). New owner MAG previously acquired STN from Heathrow Airport Holdings for $2.35 billion.

EasyJet, as part of the deal, has promised to raise its Stansted passenger numbers to 6 million passengers per year from the current 2.8 million passengers according to Reuters.

It is unclear if this is a straight built up of traffic with new routes or whether some traffic at other London airports will be moving to STN. The low-fare carrier has recently been adding new routes notably from at Gatwick and Southend. Nearby Luton is the base for the carrier.

Traffic at STN had been declining. This new accord will stem those losses. Rival Ryanair has a major hub at STN.

The airline recently announced it had reached the milestone of more than 60 million passengers who have travelled with the airline in the past 12 months to May 31, 2013.

When easyJet was founded in November 1995 the airline first took to the skies with just two aircraft flying between two domestic UK destinations. Eighteen years later, the airline now operates 212 aircraft flying to 137 airports in 33 countries spanning Europe and North Africa.

More than one hundred of easyJet’s 800 Luton based staff gathered outside the airline’s Hangar 89 head office at London Luton Airport to mark the 60 million milestone and celebrate the airline’s continued success and popularity.

Top Copyright Photo: Terry Wade/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZIW (msn 2578) in the Linate-Fiumicino Per Tutti special scheme arrives at London (Gatwick).

EasyJet (UK):

The current routes from STN:

EasyJet is in discussions to order around 100 A320neo family aircraft from Airbus

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (London-Luton), according to this report by Reuters, is in advanced discussions with Airbus to acquire around 100 re-engined A320neo family aircraft. Boeing had hoped to get back into the game with EasyJet. Such a large order would require stockholder approval.

If finalized, the order is likely to be announced at the upcoming Paris Airshow.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

EasyJet (UK):

EasyJet to acquire 25 pairs of London Gatwick slots from Flybe

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has announced and confirmed it plans to acquire 25 pairs of arrival and departure slots London’s Gatwick Airport from Flybe (Exeter) for £20 million ($25.7 million). The company issued this statement:

EasyJet plc can confirm it has completed an agreement with Flybe Group plc to acquire 25 pairs of arrival and departure slots at Gatwick airport for a total consideration of £20 million. The acquisition is subject to the approval of Flybe’s shareholders.

The slots will transfer from summer 2014 and will allow easyJet to provide additional frequencies on popular existing routes from Gatwick as well as add new destinations across the UK and Europe.

In return, Flybe issued this statement:

Flybe confirmed to the London Stock Exchange today at 0700 that it has sold its arrival and departure slots at London Gatwick airport, thus bringing to an end Flybe’s 22 year record of providing high-frequency air services from the UK regions to the airport. Flybe will continue to fly all its routes until the end of March 2014. The slots have been sold to EasyJet for a cash sum of £20 million.

The decision is as a result of the pricing regime applied by the airport’s owners to the operators of smaller, regional aircraft which, in Flybe’s case, has resulted in a 102% rise over the last five years. In a well-publicised, lengthy and expensive complaint, the airline used the Airports Act 1986 to argue to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in 2010 that Gatwick was acting in an anti-competitive and discriminatory manner. Despite support from other airlines, communities and governments around the British Isles, the fact that Flybe operates more UK domestic flights than any other airline and has won the airport’s Gold Award for punctuality in every quarter since its introduction in 2009, the CAA ruled in September 2012 that Gatwick was within its rights to raise their landing fees for smaller aircraft, thus paving the way for today’s regrettable announcement.

Flybe will continue to operate as normal all its seven domestic Gatwick routes – from Belfast City, Guernsey, Inverness, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Newcastle and Newquay – until Saturday March 29, 2014, with no changes to pricing, frequency or timings. It also confirmed that there will be no impact upon any other route currently operated from those seven airports and that the funds generated by the sale of the slots will be re-invested in the remaining 159 Flybe routes.

Separate to this announcement, Flybe today updated the London Stock Exchange on the significant positive progress it has made in its plan to return Flybe UK, its UK based scheduled airline, to profitability. Highlights included surpassing its target savings of £25m, with £30m of annual cost savings being delivered for year 2013/14 onwards, and the deal agreed in principle with BALPA (British Airlines Pilots Association) for a 5% reduction in salary in return for extra time off.

Top Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best. EasyJet’s Airbus A320-214 G-EZTD (msn 3909) holds short of the runway ready for departure from London (Gatwick).

EasyJet (UK):

Flybe:

Bottom Copyright Photo: Keith Burton. Flybe’s Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) G-JEDW (msn 4093) arrives at Gatwick Airport.

Flybe LGW Route Map: Flybe flies to mainly UK domestic destinations from LGW:

EasyJet launches London Gatwick-Bergen, Norway flights

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) yesterday (May 20) launched its first ever services from London Gatwick to Bergen, Norway.

Norway is the 33rd country EasyJet flies to with the airline expecting to carry more than 100,000 passengers between Norway and the UK annually.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EJAR (msn 2412) in the Supporting UNICEF motif taxies at Amsterdam.

Video: The expanding easyJet:

EasyJet (UK):

EasyJet cuts its pretax loss in the first half to $93 million

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has reported its first half financial results:

A. HIGHLIGHTS

	2013	2012	Change
Total revenue (£ million)	1,601	1,465	9.3%
Loss before tax (£ million)	(61)	(112)	45.5%
Pre-tax margin (%)	(3.8)	(7.6)	+3.8ppt
Loss per share – basic (pence)	(12.0)	(21.2)	43.4%
Return on capital employed (%)¹	(0.9)	(2.8)	+1.9ppt

Revenue initiatives and the focus on maintaining EasyJet’s cost advantage, combined with competitor capacity reductions and the timing of Easter have enabled easyJet to reduce its first half pre-tax loss year on year by £51 million to £61 million.

EasyJet ended the first half of the financial year with £1,194 million of cash, a decrease of £17 million against last year. Net cash as at 31 March 2013 was £433 million compared to £42 million at 31 March 2012.

On 1 May 2013, John Barton succeeded Sir Mike Rake as easyJet Chairman. The whole team at easyJet wishes to note its thanks for Sir Mike Rake’s strong leadership of the Board for three years during which easyJet’s total shareholder return was 233%.

Progress against strategic objectives:

Drive demand, conversion and yields across Europe

Total revenue per seat increased by 8.6% year on year on a constant currency basis, and by 5.8% per seat on a reported basis, to £53.39 as the half year benefited from an early Easter, competitor capacity retrenchment, returns focused changes to EasyJet’s network and improvements to its revenue management system.
Average load factors increased by 1.7 percentage points to 88.6% whilst capacity grew by 3.3% to 30 million seats.

Maintain cost advantage

Cost per seat excluding fuel grew by 3.4% on a constant currency basis and by 3.1% on a reported basis to £38.89. Year on year cost increases were largely driven by increased charges at regulated airports and from higher weather related disruption and de-icing costs.
EasyJet lean delivered an incremental £25 million of savings in the period.

Build strong number 1 and 2 network positions

Successful deployment of capacity from Madrid base which was exited in December 2012 to strengthen easyJet’s position in Edinburgh, Manchester, Gatwick, Geneva, Lisbon and Lyon.

Disciplined use of capital

In the six months to 31 March 2013, EasyJet has returned £85 million or 21.5 pence per share to shareholders through the increased payment of ordinary dividend, at three times earnings cover.
Further to the January 2013 IMS, easyJet has signed sale and operating leaseback agreements for 12 new A320 and 12 of the oldest A319 aircraft.
Significant improvements have been made in underperforming routes increasing overall network returns.
easyJet is in the final stages of the commercial evaluation of the next generation of short-haul engine technology. The process has been subject to high standards of governance. In the event that the Board of easyJet concludes that an order will be in the interest of all shareholders, easyJet will bring a proposal to shareholders that will cover both the next generation of deliveries, which are likely to be after 2017, and a plan for the bridging period from 2015 to 2017.

Commenting on the results, Carolyn McCall, easyJet Chief Executive said:

“EasyJet delivered a strong first half performance, demonstrating the Company’s structural advantage in the European short-haul market against both legacy and low cost competition, and a continuing resilience against a challenging European macro-economic environment.

Our performance reflects measurable progress against EasyJet’s four key strategic objectives that have been amply demonstrated by a significant reduction in the loss for the first half and significant improvement in ROCE over the same period.

Whilst there is always the potential for unexpected events to impact short term financial performance, the outlook for the second half of the financial year combined with the strong reduction in first half losses means that EasyJet expects to deliver improved returns and profitability for the year ending 30 September 2013.”

In other news, the company is nearing a decision to order the re-engined Airbus A320neo or the Boeing 737 MAX.

Read the full story and analysis by Reuters: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Christian Volpati/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZBR (msn 3088) with the special Airbus 100 markings stops at Paris (CDG).

EasyJet (UK):

EasyJet to test AVOID ash detection technology through creation of artificial volcanic ash cloud

EasyJet (UK) (stylized as easyJet) (London-Luton) and its partners Airbus and Nicarnica are planning the final stage of testing for the AVOID technology. Last week EasyJet flew back a ton of volcanic ash from Iceland collected by the Institute of Earth Sciences in Reykjavik. The ash, dried to create the consistency of fine talc, will be used in a unique experiment which is planned for this summer.

The next phase of testing will involve two Airbus test planes, one of which has the ability to disperse the ash into the atmosphere, thereby creating an artificial ash cloud for a second Airbus test aircraft with the AVOID technology fitted to detect and avoid at over 30,000 feet.

The experiment, which is expected to be conducted in August, will take place when the Seviri and Calypso satellites are aligned to be able to image the ash cloud from space thereby helping to prove the accuracy and effectiveness of the AVOID technology.

Ian Davies, easyJet’s Engineering Director, commented: “The threat from Icelandic volcanoes continues and so finalizing the approval of the AVOID technology is as crucial now as ever to ensure we never again see the scenes of spring 2010 when all flying ceased for several days.

“Transporting a ton of volcanic ash from Iceland is an important step in the final journey of testing the technology and moving towards commercial certification.”

Dr Fred Prata, inventor of the AVOID technology, said: “This is the perfect science experiment. We will know exactly how much ash we have placed in the atmosphere, and also its concentration and composition. AVOID will then measure it and demonstrate the technology.”

Manfred Birnfeld, Senior flight Test Engineer for Airbus, said: “We are all working towards reducing the impact of volcanic ash clouds, and the technology being developed in AVOID could prove valuable in identifying airspace free of ash contamination and provide data for pilots and airlines on the precise localisation of ash clouds.

“This is why Airbus is supporting the development of AVOID and we hope this system will contribute towards three dimensional, dynamic mapping tools to allow the airlines to take necessary decisions for a safe flight under the full knowledge of current location of ash clouds.”

The AVOID system can be likened to a weather radar for ash. Created by Dr Fred Prata, Chief Technology Officer at Nicarnica Aviation, the system comprises of infrared technology (developed by the U.S. military) fitted to aircraft to supply images to pilots and an airline’s operations control center. The images will enable pilots to see an ash cloud, up to 100 kilometers ahead of the aircraft and at altitudes between 5,000 feet and 50,000 feet, thus allowing them to make small adjustments to the plane’s flight path to avoid any ash cloud. The concept is very similar to weather radars which are standard on commercial airliners today.

On the ground, information from aircraft with AVOID technology would be used to build an accurate image of the volcanic ash cloud using real time data. This could open up large areas of airspace that would otherwise be closed during a volcanic eruption, which would benefit passengers by minimising disruption.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth. Airbus A319-111 G-EZIK (msn 2482) touches down at EuroAirport serving Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg.

EasyJet (UK):

EasyJet launches Edinburgh-Southend service

EasyJet (UK) (London-Luton) on May 2 launched its first flight to London Southend from Edinburgh. The new route means EasyJet now operates to four London airports with up to 28 flights connecting the capital cities per day.

EasyJet flights to London Southend will operate six days a week and offer the quickest route into Stratford and East London. Around 85,000 passengers are anticipated to use the service over the next 12 months and fares start from £29.99 each way.

In March EasyJet added a seventh aircraft to the airport and launched six new routes in a move which is expected to deliver 140,000 extra visitors to Scotland.

Copyright Photo: Robbie Shaw. Airbus A319-111 G-EJAR (msn 2412) in the Supporting UNICEF scheme taxies at London (Gatwick).

EasyJet (UK):

EasyJet’s expanding route map at Southend (SEN):

EasyJet to hire 200 pilots for 2014

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has announced today it will start this week in its search to fill 200 new, additional pilot positions in 2014. For successful applicants the new roles will provide the first step towards a long term career with EasyJet and will also enable the airline to continue its profitable expansion which recently included launching new routes to Russia and Norway.

EasyJet expects to fill the new positions from several sources including – pilots starting their career, pilots currently flying for the military who wish to join the civilian aviation sector and those who currently fly for other airlines who wish to build a career at EasyJet.

The new positions will be offered across all 11 of EasyJet’s UK bases – Gatwick, Southend, Luton, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Belfast – and across easyJet’s European network of bases.

Those interested can apply through careers.easyJet.com and if successful will start flying with EasyJet from summer 2014.

EasyJet (UK):