Southend-on-Seeing more of Europe

easyJet continues its UK growth with opening of new Southend base and expansion of its UK fleet to provide greater consumer choice and support connectivity and jobs

• The new three A320neo aircraft base supports around 1,200 jobs including 140 direct jobs for pilots and cabin crew
• The airline is now serving 122 flights per week on 20 routes from London Southend to leisure destinations across Europe and North Africa – a 133% increase vs last summer
• The base opens as the airline kicks off its largest ever UK summer season with seven more aircraft joining its UK fleet including at Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and London Southend, as well as 44 new routes including 4 brand new destinations
• The base opening will continue to drive easyJet holidays’ rapid growth and in 2025 will see its biggest ever summer season

easyJet has today opened its 10^th UK base at London Southend Airport, creating 140 direct jobs for pilots and crew in the UK and supporting 1200 indirect jobs*.

This marks a continued trajectory of UK growth for the airline as it opens a second base in as many years, having launched at Birmingham International Airport in 2024, fuelled by UK demand for its flights and package holidays. 

The airline is operating its biggest ever summer and biggest ever UK flying programme this year, with seven additional Airbus A320 family aircraft joining its UK-based fleet. This means there will be more than 33 million seats operating to and from the UK this summer, half a million more than last year and 44 new routes including 3 new destinations will take off from the UK this summer. 

easyJet is the largest leisure airline in the UK, responsible for a third of all UK leisure travel growth this summer, with the opening of its London Southend base alone driving 8% of this. 

The base opening will also continue to drive easyJet holidays’ rapid growth, which in 2025 will see its biggest ever summer season with Palma, Dalaman and Gran Canaria the most popular summer destinations for package holidays. 

The base opening has been enabled by the growth of easyJet’s UK fleet to more modern and fuel-efficient aircraft, its unrivalled short-haul leisure network and easyJet holiday’s unique package holiday proposition. 

Three A320neo aircraft are now based at London Southend airport, which will also see inaugural flights to Tenerife, Marrakech, Antalya, Reus, Almeria, Pisa, Dalaman, Enfidha, Gran Canaria and Malta. Nearly 10,000 passengers will take off on flights and holidays during the first week of these based operations, which is also the start of the aviation summer season. 

With a catchment area the same size as Switzerland and around eight million people living within an hour of the airport, the opening of a base at London Southend provides easyJet with further growth opportunities in the UK leisure travel and package holiday market. 

Kenton Jarvis, easyJet’s CEO, said:

“I am really pleased to be opening our newest base at London Southend today. As the Government has recently acknowledged, aviation plays a crucial role as an enabler of economic growth by providing much-needed connectivity and creating many skilled jobs for regions like these, which in turn contribute to the wider prosperity of the UK.

“Through our UK fleet growth, unrivalled short-haul network and unique easyJet holidays offering, our new base at London Southend further consolidates our position as the UK’s largest leisure airline. 

“This will enable us to serve many more UK consumers providing great value and more choice, always aiming to make travel easy for the 50 million customers we fly to and from the UK each year.”

Jude Winstanley, CEO London Southend Airport said:

“The opening of easyJet’s 10th base at London Southend Airport marks a significant milestone for both the airport and the local community. The creation of wider employment for 1,200 jobs in the region, including 140 new jobs for airport colleagues, reflects the positive momentum we are seeing as we head into our biggest summer for six years – with that impetus expected to continue into the winter season, with even more new routes to Barcelona, Salzburg and Lanzarote now on sale.

“Our airport is uniquely positioned to offer passengers a seamless travel experience, with our dedicated, on-site train link connecting Central London to the airport in under an hour and Stratford in just 43 minutes, making us the easy, speedy, friendly airport of choice for people across Essex, London and East Anglia. With immediately available capacity to support this growth, we’re excited to welcome even more passengers and provide greater choice and connectivity across Europe and beyond.”

Aviation Minister Mike Kane said:  

“Aviation is critical to unlocking economic growth across the country, and I’m delighted to see easyJet open its new base at Southend Airport. 

“We are committed to working hand in hand with the sector to help build a resilient UK workforce, and together with their plans to expand its fleet, I know this move will propel an aviation economic boom in the region and create hundreds of jobs across the sector.”

easyJet already served routes from London Southend to seven popular beach and city destinations including Alicante, Malaga, Palma, Faro, Amsterdam, Geneva and Paris. Now, by basing three aircraft, 140 pilots and crew as well as engineers at the airport, easyJet has been able to expand its network having launched 13 new routes over the past 12 months meaning a total of 20 routes are now available from London Southend. 

The airline has already begun expanding its winter offering, with new services to Barcelona, Lanzarote and Salzburg and, in response to popular demand, has extended nine summer routes to also operate over the winter season. 

easyJet was founded in the UK launching operations from London Luton airport nearly 30 years ago and since then it has flown over 800 million customers to and from the UK. Today, easyJet serves 21 UK airports offering 536 routes from the UK to 137 destinations in 29 countries across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East and employs over 14,000 people across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  

*Each UK-based aircraft directly supports 400 jobs and £27m UK GVA considering direct, indirect and induced impacts according to an independent assessment commissioned by Airlines UK.