EasyJet has opened bases at London Southend, Milanin General and Fiumicino Airport in Rome to achieve moderate capacity growth this summer.
The UK's low-cost airlines have increased seat capacity by around 2% this year with airline operations, focusing on expanding flights to non-EU markets and beach destinations, particularly in North Africa and Turkey.
“The booking environment looks ok,” EasyJet CEO Kenton Jarvis said at a media briefing on March 31 to mark the restoration of the basic operations in Southend, with similar events continuing in Rome Fiumicino and Milan Rinz over the next few days.
“We added a relatively modest capacity. It's been increasing in some areas, and it's declining in others. We see the load factor a little before this location last year.”
EasyJet operated the base on South End with five A320 CEOs until the pandemic hit in 2020. Currently based on three A320Neos at the airport, offering long distance destinations from the South End to Turkey, Canary and North Africa.
The expansion in Italy with Fiumicino and Linnate will pick up slots in relief packages released by Lufthansa and Itata to ensure the European Commission's approval for the latter acquisition by the Star Alliance Career Group. The carrier is based on three Roman aircraft, and five aircraft in Linnate. Three of these aircraft are wet leased by ITA.
