EasyJet flights: Airline to reopen base at London Southend Airport with six new routes introduced to popular holiday destinations

EasyJet has announced that it will be reopening a base at London Southend Airport for the first time since before the Covid-19 pandemic. The airline said six new routes would be introduced and it would "create about 130 jobs".

The new base is set to open in March 2025 with three A320neo aircrafts, which have 186 seats each, based in Southend. This will allow the airline to offer new routes to destinations including in Turkey and Tunisia.

Johan Lundgren, the chief executive of EasyJet, said: "This will create hundreds of jobs and provide more choice for consumers with new routes and package holidays." John Upton, the chief executive of London Southend Airport, said: “This move is indicative of the demand from people in the east of London, Essex and the wider East Anglia region who now have greater opportunities to choose to travel through our well connected, quick and easy airport."

Passenger numbers at Southend fell from 2.15 million in 2019-20 to 147,000 in 2020-21, and for a period there were no passenger flights whatsoever. Regarding the takeover, Mr Upton added: "It secures our future. Carlyle has lots of, obviously, financial power but also knows airports inside and out.

"It has great network opportunities to explore together over the coming weeks and months." EasyJet said it would be operating more flights this year than ever before, with more than 57 million seats – a 10% increase on last year.