easyJet to fly from Isle of Man - Airport Press Release
easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, is to commence flights from the Isle of Man on 21st May 2010. easyJet will fly six times a week between Liverpool John Lennon Airport and the Island using their modern fleet of Airbus A319 aircraft. This new service will add to the existing four flights daily provided by Flybe, making the popular Liverpool route the busiest on the Isle of Man network.
The easyJet flights will operate every day except Tuesdays with a varied schedule and the airline will be particularly targeting visitor traffic to the Island. Their weekend flights on Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings will be particularly attractive to those wish to take a full weekend break on the Island.
Ann Reynolds, the Isle of Man Airport Director confirmed that easyJet had been evaluating the Isle of Man opportunity for the last couple of months and, with UK the recession now receding and passenger traffic picking up, they had approached the Airport at a time when the demand for air travel is also beginning to recover.
“easyJet considers 2010 looks more promising in general, and for Isle of Man air travel in particular, this summer was the ideal time to launch flights from the Island,” Ann said.
“Historically, the Liverpool route has been one of our busiest and strongest, with at one time over 266,000 passengers carried in a single year, but the economic downturn has hit the market hard and traffic levels have fallen dramatically in recent years. easyJet has taken the initiative to boost one of our most important routes using our open skies policy and I am sure that it will play an important role in helping with the recovery of air traffic to North West England.”
easyJet will also be feeding into its huge network of services flown from Liverpool Airport, one of its major UK bases, from which it operates to 27 destinations throughout Europe. easyJet is the one of Europe’s biggest low fares airlines operating more than 500 routes to 28 countries with over 180 aircraft. Over 46 million passengers were carried by the airline in 2009.
“easyJet has come to us at a time when the Island is keen to build upon its already growing visitor traffic and its strong and well known brand will provide an added boost to tourism for the Island,” added Ann.
“Tickets will be on sale immediately and we are hoping for substantial interest from existing easyJet travelers from the Northwest who will be encouraged to explore the Island.”
The 156 seat Airbus A319 aircraft is one of the newest, quietest and most modern regional jet aircraft in the world. A number of airlines have flown the A319 from the Isle of Man on European charter flights and the aircraft has proven highly popular with passengers. Despite having a huge fleet of aircraft, easyJet has one of the youngest fleets in the world with an average age of under three years.
