EasyJet plc : easyJet's inaugural flight celebrates the launch of the first new airport in the south east for decades

- Popular ski route of Geneva to launch from winter 2012-

easyJet, the UK's largest airline, will today celebrate the launch of its new UK base at London Southend Airport - the first new airport in the south east for decades. Southend is the airline's 23rd base in Europe and 11th in the UK, with a special inaugural flight taking off from the new airport to Barcelona.

Southend was once London's third biggest as well as the home of Freddie Laker's first airline venture. Southend will offer a fast and convenient new way to fly to and from London. The brand new terminal - which was recently officially opened by Secretary of State for Transport, Justine Greening MP - is located within a minute's walk from the new train station with superb links into Stratford and central London.

Carolyn McCall, chief executive of easyJet, commented;

"We are delighted to be at Southend to launch our services here. We have worked closely with the airport over the past year to help put Southend Airport back on the map and we are sure that its fast, efficient and customer friendly terminal along with its great rail links to London will make it a popular choice with our passengers."

Commercial flights commence on 2 April when there will be 70 easyJet flights per week, making it the ideal gateway for both business and leisure travel across Europe. On landing at Southend Airport passengers should be able to get from the plane to the train within 15 minutes.

easyJet has today announced a new route for the winter schedule from London Southend, the tenth route from the airport, to popular city and ski centre, Geneva. easyJet will operate three services a week on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from mid-December. Seats will go on sale on 19 April.

Carolyn McCall, added:

"We are also pleased to be able to add Geneva to our wide range of routes which are available from the airport. Our launch programme includes family destinations, city breaks and key business routes but we felt it was important to ensure that a skiing destination was also available for the winter."

From 2 April onwards easyJet flights will commence more than 70 flights a week to nine destinations across Europe from Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona Berlin, Faro, Ibiza, Jersey, Majorca and Malaga. Geneva will be added from winter 2012. Amsterdam is proving the most popular route to and from London Southend proving that for the Dutch "de enige manier is Essex" (The only way is Essex).

Alastair Welch, Managing Director of London Southend Airport, commented;

"easyJet's start of services from London Southend marks the true beginning of a new era for the airport. With £100 million invested and 500 new jobs created in the region, together with 10 exciting new routes from easyJet, the existing Aer Lingus Regional Waterford route and a new Dublin service from May, this is a very exciting time to start flying from London Southend Airport."

London Southend is easyJet's eleventh UK base which will bring three new A319 aircraft and over 150 employees to the airport, with more than 800,000 passengers expected to fly in the airline's first year of take off.

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For further information please contact:
Anna Knowles, easyJet Press Office, press.office@easyJet.com 01582 525252

Notes to Editors

About easyJet:

easyJet operates Europe's No. 1 air transport network with a leading presence on Europe's top 100 routes and at Europe's 50 largest airports.
easyJet flies on more than 600 routes between 130 airports in 30 countries. More than 300 million Europeans live within one hour's drive of an easyJet airport, more than any other airline.

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.