easyJet announces further Scottish expansion as Athens takes off

easyJet today unveiled further expansion plans as Scotland’s only direct route to Athens took off for the first time. Scotland’s favourite airline announced two new routes from Edinburgh Airport; Dalaman in Turkey and the country’s first direct scheduled flight to the Italian city of Naples.

easyJet will operate the Edinburgh to Dalaman route following the collapse of Holidays4u earlier this year, while Naples is expected to become a popular sun and city destination in addition to providing a further link for Scotland’s large Italian community.

The low-fares airline revealed the plans as it marked its inaugural flight to the Greek capital of Athens. The new routes, which bring the total number of easyJet routes from Scotland to 45, will be served by the arrival of a fifth aircraft at Edinburgh Airport, which also sees the launch of Tenerife and Grenoble later this year.

The expansion will enable easyJet to further grow its leisure market and are the latest in a series of new Scottish routes announced over the past 12 months including Edinburgh to Basel and Paphos, Glasgow to Jersey and Amsterdam and Aberdeen to Gatwick.

The new A320 is the 200th airbus in easyJet’s fleet – a milestone that has been marked with a distinctive all orange livery on the plane.

Hugh Aitken, easyJet’s commercial manager for Scotland, said:

“2011 has been an incredible year for easyJet in Scotland, the highlight of which is today’s launch of Scotland’s only direct route to Athens, connecting Edinburgh – the Athens of the North – to the Greek capital.

Naples will be yet another Scottish first for easyJet and is set to become a popular inbound and outbound destination. We are also pleased to be able to provide much needed capacity on the popular Edinburgh to Dalaman route.

This announcement brings the number of new routes which we launched from Scotland in the last 12 months to 8, alongside increased capacity on our popular business links between Glasgow and London.”

Edinburgh Airport welcomed news of easyJet’s further expansion plans.

Jim O’Sullivan, Edinburgh Airport’s new Managing Director, said: “The commencement of any new route is exciting, but this morning’s inaugural flight to Athens on such an iconic plane is extra special.

We work very hard with our airline partners to link Edinburgh to key destinations across the globe and this investment by easyJet is a great step in maintaining a diverse choice of routes.”

Lucy Bird, CEO of Marketing Edinburgh, said: “easyJet is an increasingly important partner for the city and this new route illustrates its ongoing commitment to Edinburgh and its economy.

The Athens route builds on its already well established presence here and opens another direct market for visitors to the city.”

easyJet will start flying to Naples and Dalaman in April next year.

Seats to both destinations go on sale on 22 September 2011 at easyJet.com.