easyJet, Europe's leading airline, welcomed its 300th aircraft, an Airbus A320-214, into the fleet this morning on the new route between Berlin-Tegel and Cologne/Bonn airport. This is also the 111th aircraft with an Austrian AOC.

The aircraft is a former airberlin-aircraft that has been converted and transferred into the easyJet fleet and marks a milestone in the airline´s recent expansion in Germany. With the 300th aircraft delivery 10 of the 18 aircraft based in Berlin-Tegel are now easyJet planes, alongside the aircraft that have been wet leased to support the flying schedule from Tegel during the transition period until November 2018.

The new route between Berlin-Tegel and Cologne/Bonn is part of easyJet´s biggest summer schedule for Berlin with more than 16 million seats flying over the summer season. Flights will operate twice a day and the frequency will be increased to six daily connections by September 2018, with fares starting from €39.99*. With the comprehensive network of key European and domestic cities with convenient, frequent flights, easyJet is growing the number of business passengers with 75% of the DAX 30 signed up to corporate travel deals and that is set to increase further.

To support its expansion in Germany easyJet has been recruiting and has already started training new cabin crew and pilots. Over the next few months easyJet is looking forward to welcoming hundreds of new people to the easyJet family at Berlin-Tegel, among them several former airberlin-employees. Over 350 former airberlin-employees (150 pilot & 200 cabin crew) are already flying with easyJet and we are still in the recruitment process. By September 2018 easyJet expects to have recruited more than 420 former airberlin-employees.

Thomas Haagensen, easyJet's Group Markets Director said:

'Celebrating the delivery of our 300th Airbus marks a milestone of both our recent expansion in Germany and also our future growth as we continue on our journey to become Europe's leading airline.

'It was only six months ago that we launched our first flight from Berlin-Tegel to Munich and thereby started to operate our first domestic flights in Germany. The domestic routes from Tegel to Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart are popular with business travellers who account for 41 percent of our passengers on these routes. The attractive flight schedules with early departure times make day trips to important destinations in Germany and other German-speaking countries possible. With the new route between Berlin-Tegel and Cologne/Bonn we are addressing the need for all governmental staff flying back and forth, as part of our agreement in place with the German government which was among our first corporate agreements in Germany.

This milestone symbolizes the ongoing expansion in Berlin with the ramp up of the operation going as planned. Celebrating the delivery of our 300th Airbus into our fleet helps us to continue to make travel easy and affordable on our journey to become Europe's leading airline as well as Berlin's biggest airline with more than 16 million seats flying over the summer season.'

easyJet´s Senior First Officer and former airberlin-employee Maurice Lindemann, said:

'It has been an honour to operate this special flight today on the route between Berlin-Tegel and Cologne/Bonn. From the first day we have been welcomed with open arms into the easyJet family. This has made the challenging training much easier. Being based in Berlin-Tegel, I´m very proud to support the highly motivated team on the ramp-up of this station.'

*one-way, including taxes and based on two people on the same booking.

ENDS

For further information, please contact the easyJet Press Office on 01582 525252, log onto www.easyJet.com or follow @easyJet_Press

NOTES TO EDITORS

About easyJet

easyJet is Europe's leading airline offering a unique and winning combination of the best route network connecting Europe's primary airports, with great value fares and friendly service.

easyJet flies on more of Europe's most popular routes than any other airline. easyJet carries over 81 million passengers annually, of which more than 13 million are travelling on business. easyJet flies over 280 aircraft on more than 890 routes to over 140 airports across 31 countries. More than 300 million Europeans live within one hour's drive of an easyJet airport.

easyJet aims to be a good corporate citizen, employing people on local contracts in seven countries across Europe in full compliance with national laws and recognising their trade unions. The airline supports a number of local charities and also has a corporate partnership with UNICEF which has raised over £10m for the most vulnerable children since it was established in 2012.

The airline takes sustainability seriously. easyJet invests in the latest technology, operates efficiently and fills most of its seats which means that an easyJet passenger's carbon footprint is 22% less than a passenger on a traditional airline, flying the same aircraft on the same route.

Innovation is in easyJet's DNA - from our launch over 20 years ago when we changed the way people fly to the present day where we lead the industry in digital, web, engineering and operational innovations to make travel more easy and affordable for our passengers.

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easyjet plc published this content on 21 June 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 21 June 2018 15:02:03 UTC