easyJet to increase its Jersey network with the introduction of a year-round service to London Gatwick

2013-09-10 — /travelprnews.com/ — easyJet, the UK’s largest airline has today, Wednesday 28 August 2013, announced it is increasing its Jersey network with the introduction of a year-round service to London Gatwick.

From 30 March 2014 easyJet will operate three flights per day between Jersey and London Gatwick, offering the choice of a morning, afternoon and evening departure in each direction. The new service will go on sale in September 2013.

The announcement follows a deal secured by easyJet earlier this year to purchase 25 additional slots at Gatwick Airport from Flybe. Since this time, the airline has worked closely with the route development team at Jersey Airport to expand its operation in the Island and enhance connections to London Gatwick. The new flight will be operated by an Airbus A319 aircraft with the capacity of 156 seats.

Group CEO for Ports of Jersey, Doug Bannister, is delighted by the announcement and says the confirmation of a second airline on the London Gatwick route will ensure competition between the carriers offering an excellent and affordable choice for both leisure and business passengers.

UK Commercial Manager for easyJet, Ali Gayward, says:

“easyJet is pleased to confirm it will introduce new flights between Jersey and London Gatwick from spring 2014, which underlines our continued commitment to serving Jersey.

“The new early flight will allow business travellers to reach London in time for meetings while the evening departure enables them to travel home on the same day. The introduction of low cost seats will also help to boost tourism to Jersey.

“In developing our plans for London Gatwick we have listened to all the points made by Economic Development and Jersey Airport. Their enthusiasm to work with easyJet has been clear from the start and we hope this support will continue to make the route a success”.

Minister for Economic Development, Senator Alan Maclean, says:

“Today’s announcement once again demonstrates easyJet’s continuing confidence in Jersey, which has continued to flourish since it first established services from the Island in 2008. The airline has the capability of delivering in excess of a quarter of a million passengers per year on the Gatwick route alone, which will be of great benefit to the vitally important tourism and business economy”.

Provisional schedule for summer 2014 – timings to be confirmed in September

The introduction of a London Gatwick service brings the total number of routes the airline serves from Jersey to five. In addition to its existing year-round services to Liverpool, Glasgow and London Southend, the airline also introduced a summer service to Newcastle earlier this year.