easyJet (UK) has been granted slots at Frankfurt (FRA) according to Fraport and Reuters. This is a result of the takeover of Airberlin’s Berlin (Tegel) (TGL) operations. The slots are likely to be use for services between FRA and TGL.
Copyright Photo:ย easyJet (UK) Airbus A319-111 G-EZFK (msn 4048) LGW (SPA). Image: 939923.
easyJet on October 27, 2017 signed an agreement with Airberlin to acquire part of its operations at Berlin Tegel Airport for a purchase consideration of โฌ40 million. This excludes potential start-up and transitional operating costs. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in December 2017.
The acquisition will result in easyJet entering into leases for up to 25 A320 aircraft, offering employment to Airberlin flying crews and taking over other assets including slots. easyJet has launched a recruitment campaign to attract around 1000 of Airberlinโs pilots and cabin crew who will be recruited over the coming months and will then be trained on easyJetโs safety and operating procedures. In line with easyJetโs business model they will be employed on local, German contracts under collective labor agreements negotiated with ver.di.
This agreement is consistent with easyJetโs strategy of purposeful investment in strong number one positions in Europeโs leading airports (or number two to a legacy incumbent). This will enable easyJet to operate the leading short haul network at Tegel connecting passengers to and from destinations across Germany and the rest of Europe. This is in addition to easyJetโs existing base at Berlin Schรถnefeld and would mean that easyJet would be the leading airline in Berlin.
easyJet will make announcements on the new routes and services to be flown to and from Tegel in due course. easyJet will operate a reduced timetable at Tegel during the winter season but plans to operate a full schedule from the summer season 2018.
easyJet looks forward to building on the strong, customer focussed platform it already has in Berlin to fly more passengers, employ more people and support more economic growth in both Berlin and Brandenburg.
With Brexit, its is likely the new Tegel operation will be put under easyJet (Europe).
Top Copyright Photo:ย easyJet (UK) Airbus A320-214 G-EZTG (msn 3946) PMI (Ton Jochems). Image: 933720.
easyJet (UK) has announced that it will launch a new base in Bordeaux, France in the spring of 2018. The airline has flown to and from Bordeaux since 2006.
The opening of the Bordeaux base with its three Airbus A320 aircraft will bring easyJetโs total capacity in France to 22 million seats including 2.2 million seats in Bordeaux. This represents a 21% increase in growth locally.
easyJet operated its first flight to France in 1996 with its London Luton โ Nice route and is now the second largest airline in France for international and domestic short haul flights.ย easyJet has placed the French regions at the heart of its network by opening 6 bases: Paris Orly, Paris Charles De Gaulle, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice and now, Bordeaux. The airline operates thirty aircraft in France and offers more than 220 routes locally. In 2016 almost 17 million passengers flew with easyJet to and from France including 24% of business passengers.
Photo: easyJet.
Airbus on June 14, 2017 delivered easyJetโs first A320neo, which is also the airlineโs 300th A320 Family aircraft, at a ceremony in Toulouse involving Carolyn McCall, easyJet CEO, Gaรซl Mรฉheust, CFM international CEO, Tom Enders, Airbus CEO, and other senior executives.
The aircraft, powered by CFM LEAP-1A engines, is configured in a comfortable 186 seat layout. To mark the occasion and to distinguish the NEO fleet, the aircraft has a specially designed NEO logo on the fuselage. easyJetโs NEO fleet will be based out of London Luton Airport and operate its first commercial flights in June to Amsterdam, Madrid and Edinburgh.
From its first A320 Family delivery in 2003, easyJet has grown to operate Europeโs largest A320 Family fleet and is also Europeโs largest customer for the NEO. Environmentally, the NEO has significant benefits with a 15 percent reduction in fuel burn and CO2 emissions rising to 20 percent by 2020. The noise footprint is also reduced by 50 percent.
In May 2017, easyJet upsized orders for 30 A320neo with 186 seats to the larger capacity A321neo with 235 seats for growth at slot constrained airports.
Photos: Airbus. Airbus A320-251N G-UZHA (msn 7646) was handed over on June 14, 2017.
easyJet (UK) has signed a firm order for a further 36 Airbus A320 Family aircraft taking its cumulative order for the type to 451. The agreement for six A320ceo and 30 A320neo makes easyJet one of the worldโs biggest airline customers for the A320ceo Family with 321 ordered and also for the A320neo with 130 on order.
In the year that easyJet celebrates its 20th anniversary, earlier in April 2015, the airline took delivery of its 250th A320 aircraft. As with other recent deliveries to easyJet, the A320 is equipped with the latest technology and fuel-saving Sharklets.
The airline flies on more than 750 routes to over 130 airports across 31 countries.
easyJet operates Europeโs largest and the worldโs fourth largest Airbus single aisle fleet. Since easyJet took delivery of its first Airbus aircraft (an A319) in September 2003, Airbus has delivered an aircraft on average every 16 days to easyJet since the first delivery.
Top Photo: Airbus. Airbus A320-214 D-AVVO (msn 6587) became G-EZOM on the handover on May 6, 2015.
Below Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDL (msn 3569) arrives at EuroAirport.
https://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/Airlines-Europe-1/Airlines-Europe-1/EasyJet-UK/i-rmTTf3p
easyJet aircraft slide show:ย 
Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at www.finspreads.comย commented on the updated profit forecast of easyJet (London-Luton):
easyJet impressed the market by increasing its profit forecast from a range of ยฃ620 million to ยฃ660 million to ยฃ675 million to ยฃ700 million on the back of a very strong summer and continued weakness in oil prices.
In August they carried 7.1 million passengers, a monthly record, whilst the proportion of occupied seats on each flight also reached an all time high of 94.4%.
This is great news for easyJet, who have staged an impressive recovery since earlier in the summer. Back in May easyJet issued a profit warning after air traffic control strikes in France led to a series of cancelations, which combined with the impact of two fires at Romeยดs Fiumicino airport, resulted in the company wiping ยฃ25 million off its full year guidance.
Its definitely been a turbulent year for the budget airline and this has been reflected in the share price which slumped 17% following the profit warning in May. However, todayโs news has seen the share price jump over 6% as investors become more confident in the future of easyJet.
Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com.ย Airbus A319-111 G-EZDA (msn 3413) arrives at EuroAirport in the new look.
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easyJet (UK) (London-Luton) on December 12 will start the twice-weekly London (Gatwick)ย ย โ Friedrichshafen route. This new service will be operated with Airbus A319s according to Airline Route.
Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDK (msn 3555) in the new 2015 livery arrives at EuroAirport.
easyJet (UK) aircraft slide show:ย
easyJet (UK) (London) is adding five new routes from Vienna this fall. The carrier is adding new routes from VIE to Amsterdam (December 17), Berlin (Schoenefeld) (October 29), Bristol (November 6), London (Luton) October 23) and Manchester (November 5).
In other news, easyJet has issued this statement about a possible strike from its cabin staff and its plans to operate a full schedule:
easyJet can reassure its passengers that there is no industrial action currently planned by its UK cabin crew and that easyJet is confident it will operate its full summer flight schedule.
easyJet values the contribution our cabin crew make to the company. โeasyJetโs cabin crew receive the highest pay in the UK airline industry with total annual package of ยฃ25,000 – which is in line with the average UK national wage for all workers. All crew share in easyJetโs success through an annual bonus and share awards. easyJet has now awarded its UK cabin crew increases of 4.1% for cabin crew and 5.1% for cabin managers over two years backdated to January 2015 on top of an already market leading set of pay and conditions in the UK.
Following months of discussions with UNITE, the UK cabin crew union, including talks facilitated by ACAS, and despite a series of pay offers easyjet was unable to reach an agreement with the union.
As a result the airline has awarded its cabin crew with the pay increase which was put forward during the pay discussion process.
We believe it is right to make the award now since cabin crew, the majority of which are not union members, have been waiting for a conclusion to the pay discussions for a number of months.
easyJet is disappointed that in a recent Unite pay ballot members voted to reject the offer however we note that the majority of easyJetโs cabin crew are not members of Unite and we estimate that only one in five of easyJet’s UK cabin crew voted against the offer.
The offer was well above inflation and above recent pay increases received by BA and Thomas Cook under agreements with UNITE.
Copyright Photo: Javier Rodriguez/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 G-EZOL (msn 6572) in the new livery and the special “250th Airbus” markings.
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EasyJet (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) today announced a strengthening of its Italian strategy through expanding its bases in Italy at Milan Malpensa and Naples and the opening of a new base in Venice from Aprilโ 2016. The airline plans to support this expansion by redeploying aircraft and crew from Rome Fiumicino.
EasyJet CEO Carolyn McCallโ outlined the airline’s plans:
“Italy is a key strategic country for easyJet and our plans for 2016 announced today will expand our presence at Milan, Naples and Venice, where there are more opportunities for long term sustainable and profitable growth, while ensuring we continue to connect Rome Fiumicino with Europe in a way that best reflects passenger demand.
“Milan, Naples and Venice are all centres of important Italian economic regions. Each has high levels of passenger demand from leisure as well as business passengers and all have demand for flights both into and out of Italy.
“Our expansion in these three airports will bring thousands of direct and indirect jobs in each region and will ensure easyJet remains the largest airline at each airport giving all three cities the best network connecting them with the rest of Europe.
“At a time when there are significant profitable growth opportunities for easyJet across Europe we are continuing to make a very significant investment in Italy. easyJet has grown steadily in Italy in recent years in terms of investment and jobs and will base 29 aircraft in the country next year, employing over 1000 pilots, cabin crew and other staff and supporting thousands more direct and indirect jobs.โ
Barcelona
EasyJet also announced that it is to open a new base in Barcelona from February 2016, basing three Airbus aircraft there. Barcelona has always been a key network point for easyJet and the base opening consolidates easyJet’s strong position at Barcelona carrying almost three million passengers a year to and from 14 airports across Europe.
With aircraft based at the airport business travellers will be able to benefit from earlier departures as well as an increased number of flights on existing routes connecting to primary airports in Europe such as London, Paris, Geneva and Milan.
Venice
EasyJet will open a base at Venice Marco Polo Airport starting from April 2016. With four Airbus aircraft based at the airport, easyJet will increase its contribution to the local economy by providing 150 local jobs for pilots and cabin crew.
Venice has for some time been a key network point for EasyJet, having operated flights into and out of the city since 1998. The airline has increased the number of passengers carried by an average rate of 15% per year over the last five years. easyJet currently flies to Venice from 15 primary airports across Europe – such as London Gatwick, Amsterdam and Paris Charles de Gaulle – and is the largest airline at Marco Polo Airport.
As well as being a world famous tourist destination the region is Italyโs third largest economy and 28% of easyJet’s 1.6 million passengers on flights to and from Venice are travelling on business. This will be further enhanced when aircraft are based at the airport as business travellers will be able to benefit from early morning departures.
Milan Malpensa
Milan Malpensa is already easyJet’s second largest base with 18 aircraft and will receive three more from April 2016, providing over 100 new jobs for pilots and cabin crew. This will strengthen EasyJetโs existing status as the largest airline at Milan Malpensa and gives the airline a strong strategic position serving Italyโs richest metropolitan area of some 9 million people with one of the countryโs highest GDP.
Naples
EasyJet opened its new base in Naples in 2014 and is now firmly established as the largest airline at the airport. Naples is southern Italyโs largest city and the third largest in the country.
EasyJet already bases three aircraft in Naples and will base one more plane there from April 2016 providing 35 more jobs for pilots and cabin crew. Naples is a top European destination both for tourism – the city being listed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO – and for business with a wide network of more than 260,000 companies and 2.6 million business travellers flying from Naples every year.
Rome Fiumicino
The Rome Fiumicino base is delivering lower returns than EasyJet’s other bases and the new services and routes which will be operated as a result of this redeployment will better match easyJetโs customersโ needs and deliver higher returns for the airline.โ
The worsening performance of the Rome Fiumicino base has been driven by high airport passenger charges, which have more than doubled since 2012, and will be burdened by further above inflation increases in the coming years. In addition, Rome Fiumicino airport provides a poor passenger experience which has led to low levels of punctuality and customer satisfaction which the recent capacity increases have exacerbated.
As a result of the redeployment EasyJet will cease basing crew and aircraft at Rome Fiumicino from April 2016. There will be no job losses as a result of this decision as easyJet will be offering Rome Fiumicino based crew a transfer to our other Italian bases. The airline will offer individual relocation plans and support for all employees. easyJet hopes that as many of its crew as possible take up this offer.
EasyJet remains committed to connecting Italy with the rest of Europe and will continue to fly around 2 million passengers to and from Rome Fiumicino next year out of its bases across its network. This decision does not reflect in any way on easyJetโs Rome Fiumicino based people or the commitment and effort they have made to deliver a friendly customer experience and high operational standards.
Copyright Photo: Keith Burton/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDJ (msn 3544) painted in the new 2015 livery arrives at Southend near London.
EasyJet (UK) aircraft slide show:ย
EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton) reversed its financial fortunes and produced a six-month profit (before taxies) (ending on March 31) ofย ยฃ7 million ($7.8 million). This compares favorably with a loss ofย ยฃ53 million ($59.6 million) in the same period a year ago.
The airline issued these additional details:
Strategic Progress:
Drive demand, conversion and yields across Europe
โข Total revenue per seat increased by 2.6% year-on-year on a constant currency basis, and by 0.2% per seat on a reported basis, to ยฃ54.91 driven, in part, by the disciplined allocation of capacity, improvement in load factor, strong October trading, timing of Easter and performance of allocated seating.
โข Average load factors increased by 0.7 percentage points to 89.7% whilst capacity grew by 3.6% to 32.2 million seats.
Maintain cost advantage
โข Cost per seat excluding fuel grew by 2.9% on a constant currency basis and decreased by 1.4% on a reported basis to ยฃ38.66. The increase in cost per seat was driven by anticipated increases in charges at regulated airports mainly in Germany and Italy, increased disruption costs in the second quarter and costs associated with building a resilient operation ahead of new crew base openings.
โข easyJet lean delivered ยฃ21 million of sustainable savings in the six months to March 31, 2015.
โข From May 2016 all future deliveries of A320 aircraft to have 186 seats; existing A320 180 seat fleet to be retrofitted starting in winter 2016. 186 seat A320 expected to deliver a cost per seat saving of 2% vs. a 180 seat A320.
โข Component support contract signed with AJW Group to drive savings in maintenance costs from October 2015.
Build strong number 1 and 2 network positions
โข easyJet opened new bases in Amsterdam and Porto bringing the total number of bases to 26.
Disciplined use of capital
โขIn the six months to March 31, 2015, easyJet returned ยฃ180 million or 45.4 pence per share to shareholders through the payment of an ordinary dividend at an increased payout ratio of 40% of profit after tax for the year ended September 30, 2014.ย
โข easyJet ended the first half of the financial year with cash and money market deposits of ยฃ976 million, a decrease of ยฃ93 million against last year. Net cash as at 31 March 2015 was ยฃ416 million compared to ยฃ449 million at March 31, 2014.
Commenting on the results, Carolyn McCall, easyJet Chief Executive said:
โeasyJet has delivered a record performance in the first half of the year by continuing to deliver its strategy of making travel easy and affordable for passengers. The profit in the half reflects the delivery of our customer focused revenue initiatives and a strong finish to the ski season as well as the benefit we received from the lower fuel price and favourable foreign exchange movements.
As we enter the important summer season forward bookings are in line with last year and as we predicted passengers are benefitting as fares fall to reflect a more competitive operating environment and lower fuel costs. easyJet continues to be well positioned to grow revenue and profit this year, delivering sustainable returns to shareholders due to its compelling network, low cost base and strong balance sheet.โ
Analysis of the results andย a comment from Ken Odeluga, a senior market analyst at www.cityindex.co.uk
EasyJet has swung to a net profit at the typically weak half-way stage of the airline financial year and I think this can only emphasise that its making solid progress against its only true rival, at the moment, Ryanair.
It has edged the bar slightly higher against RYA with a 7 basis point extension of its lead on load factor to 89.7% vs. RYA latterly on 88% (Dec.). EZJ has now having maintained an average passenger yield advantage for almost every interim period since 2012.
Naturally, landing in the black for the first half bodes especially well for the rest of EZJโs financial year, although despite the airline saying the outlook is broadly in line for the rest of the year, it will not have the advantage of fuel prices quite as low as they were in the prior period, therefore thereโs scope for full-year forecasts to be scaled backโthough only moderately in my view.
However as the market opened this morning it decided to look past these strengths and focus on the disruption EZJ warned of a few days ago from French air traffic control industrial action.
I do believe that the airline has been suitably, but perhaps overly cautious on the magnitude of impact these will have on the third quarter, though of course further qualification may come in the call (0930BST)
Copyright Photo below: Antony J. Best/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDA (msn 3413) prepares to land at London (Gatwick) painted in the new 2015 livery.
EasyJet aircraft slide show:ย
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