New easyJet CEO Carolyn McCall only took over on 1 July, but since then, the airline has announced a new base in Lisbon, increased profits and is growing winter capacity in places where Ryanair is cutting back...
easyJet recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of its first commercial flights (between London Luton and Glasgow) and also unveiled its latest annual financial results for the year ending 30 September 2010. But anna.aero is more interested in where this winter it will be allocating capacity flown by its fleet of now almost 200 aircraft. Our recent analysis of Ryanair’s winter capacity showed how the Irish carrier was ditching UK services in favour of Spanish growth while also cutting capacity significantly in Ireland and France.
By contrast, easyJet is cutting flights only marginally in just three of its 30 country markets, while adding significant capacity in France and the UK. The Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland will also all see at least 50 more weekly easyJet departures this winter than last.
Source: OAG Max Online for w/c 1 February 2010 and w/c 7 February 2011, anna.aero
According to our analysis of OAG data, easyJet will be operating 408 routes next February compared with 343 this February, an increase of 19%. The average weekly frequency on routes will have fallen by 5% from 9.1 flights per week to 8.6. The total number of weekly flights will be up 13% from around 6,200 to over 7,000.
Countries that easyJet serves in winter but Ryanair does not include Croatia, Egypt, Gibraltar, Hungary, Israel, Serbia (Kosovo), Slovenia and Switzerland. Conversely, easyJet does not operate any winter flights to Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway or Slovakia, all of which Ryanair serves.
France up by over 20%, UK up over 8%
All of easyJet’s top six country markets will see growth this winter of at least 5%. The number of flights at French airports will grow by almost 24%, while flights from Swiss airports will increase by 17%. France has now overtaken Italy as easyJet’s second biggest country market, at least in winter.
| Country | Weekly departures February 2010 |
Weekly departures February 2011 |
% change |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 2,284 | 2,473 | +8.3% |
| France | 749 | 926 | +23.6% |
| Italy | 830 | 902 | +8.7% |
| Spain | 631 | 671 | +6.3% |
| Switzerland | 526 | 616 | +17.1% |
| Germany | 350 | 380 | +8.6% |
| Source: OAG Max Online for w/c 1 February 2010 and w/c 7 February 2011, anna.aero | |||
Since last winter, easyJet has added or maintained weekly frequencies at 92 airports and reduced flights at just 18. The most new frequencies at a single airport have been added at Amsterdam (66), followed by Paris CDG (52) and London Gatwick (50).
Source: OAG Max Online for w/c 1 February 2010 and w/c 7 February 2011, anna.aero
New routes from Amsterdam this winter (compared with last winter) include Barcelona, Berlin Schönefeld, Manchester and Prague, raising easyJet’s network at the Dutch airport from 12 to 16 destinations.
Nine new airports added; Turin dropped
The number of airports served by easyJet in February has risen from 101 this year to 109 next year. A total of nine airports are new for the winter season, with just one, Turin, no longer served.
| “New” airports | Country | Destinations served |
|---|---|---|
| Brest (BES) | France | Lyon, Paris CDG |
| Dresden (DRS) | Germany | Basel |
| Fez (FEZ) | Morocco | Paris CDG |
| Gothenburg (GOT) | Sweden | Berlin SXF, London LGW, Manchester |
| Isle of Man (IOM) | UK | Liverpool |
| Leeds/Bradford (LBA) | UK | Geneva |
| Luxor (LXR) | Egypt | London LGW |
| Pristina (PRN) | Serbia (Kosovo) | Basel, Geneva |
| Zagreb (ZAG) | Croatia | London LGW, Paris CDG |
| Source: OAG Max Online for w/c 1 February 2010 and w/c 7 February 2011, anna.aero According to OAG data Pristina is still considered part of Serbia. |
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According to easyJet (as reported in their recent annual results), the airline’s annual network comprises 509 routes connecting 125 airports. During the last year, 115 new routes were launched while “28 underperforming routes were closed”.
2 Comments
I’m surprised you didn’t list the 28 routes that were dropped. According to my research I have found 24 that were dropped between 1 October 2009 and 30 September 2010. They are:
BRS – BIQ, MXP, VCE, VLC
BSL – CIA
EMA – AGP, ALC, BCN, FAO, GVA, IBZ, NCE, PMI, PRG, VCE
GVA – CIA
LTN – ATH, BFS, CAG, TRN, VIE
LYS – PSA
MAD – CIA
FCO – BRI
Could any of your readers identify the rest?
Thank you for sharing your research, Arthur. We did in fact ask easyJet for the list of routes referred to, but they sadly declined giving it to us.