easyJet has opened its 10th UK base at London’s Southend Airport, deploying three A320neo aircraft which will support around 1,200 jobs including 140 direct jobs for pilots and cabin crew.
The airline is now serving 122 flights per week on 20 routes from Southend to leisure destinations across Europe and North Africa - a 133% increase in comparison to last summer.
easyJet said it will operate new services from the airport to destinations including Gran Canaria, Pisa, Barcelona and Malta.
After establishing operations from Southend in 2012, in August 2020 easyJet pulled all services from the airport, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. easyJet’s services resumed from the airport in May 2022,
“As the (UK) government has recently acknowledged, aviation plays a crucial role as an enabler of economic growth by providing much-needed connectivity and creating many skilled jobs for regions like these, which in turn contribute to the wider prosperity of the UK,” said Kenton Jarvis, easyJet’s CEO.
According to an independent assessment conducted by Airlines UK, each UK-based aircraft directly supports 400 jobs and contributes £27 million ($34.8 million) to the UK's Gross Value Added (GVA).