EasyJet is to start flying from London Southend Airport from April 2012 creating 150 new jobs with around 70 flights weekly to ten European destinations including Barcelona, Faro and Ibiza. A ten-year partnership agreement between airport owner Stobart Group and the airline means three A319 aircraft will be based at the Essex terminal from next summer. The new jobs will be a mixture of cabin crew, pilots and ground staff.
Catherine Lynn, easyJet’s customer and revenue director Catherine Lynn said: “This is a unique opportunity to offer a world class customer experience, with passengers able to get from the plane to the train in 15 minutes. Through offering easy and affordable travel, we expect the new routes to appeal to customers in Essex and London looking for a convenient new departure point for many top European destinations. We also believe that the European city links will also attract a high number of inbound business and leisure passengers next year.”
London Southend Airport’s managing director, Alastair Welch said: “This summer we open a dedicated railway station with up to eight services an hour to Stratford - site of the 2012 games, and to London Liverpool Street. A new state-of-the-art control tower is now operational; work on our runway extension is underway, as is a new terminal building to be completed this autumn. A new hotel will open in 2012.”
He added: “Our target is to serve two million passengers a year, and with 800,000 easyJet passengers and a further 100,000 Aer Arann and Flybe passengers, we will be meeting almost half that target in year one.”
