EASYJET ANNOUNCES EXPANSION PLAN WHICH WILL BRING HUNDREDS OF MUCH-NEEDED JOBS TO THE UK

easyJet, the UK’s largest airline, has today announced expansion plans in two key UK cities – Edinburgh and Manchester. The airline will be adding two new aircraft at Edinburgh Airport and an additional plane at Manchester Airport. The move – which will create over 240 direct jobs and hundreds more indirect jobs, demonstrates easyJet’s commitment to delivering sustainable economic growth to the cities in which it operates.

More than half of easyJet’s passengers on Edinburgh routes are inbound tourists, which means that the new routes are likely to boost the Scottish economy by more than £90m through spending by the inbound visitors. The six new Edinburgh routes, which have been decided following a consultation with VisitScotland, Marketing Edinburgh and the Scottish business community, will take the total number easyJet serves to 30. They include key German destinations Berlin and Hamburg as well as Prague, Copenhagen, Reykjavik and Dubrovnik. All of the new cities will help to keep the Scottish business community connected with Europe.

The expansion at Manchester will allow easyJet to offer five new destinations – helping to keep passengers in the North West better connected to Europe.

Paul Simmons, easyJet’s UK Director, commented:
“At a time when the UK economy is shrinking, positioning three new aircraft in the UK will provide a much needed boost directly creating more than two hundred jobs in the UK as well as many hundreds indirectly.

“For Edinburgh the new planes will bring in 140,000 more inbound visitors which is crucially important to the Scottish economy and jobs market. In Manchester hundreds of jobs will also be created along with an even greater choice of destinations to keep the region well connected to Europe.”

The first Airbus A319 is scheduled to arrive at Edinburgh on 2 December 2012 with the second plane commencing operations in March 2013. In Manchester the aircraft will commence flights on 14 February.