EASYJET has revealed it will add a sixth aircraft to its Glasgow base from next summer in a move it said would create around 40 jobs.
The move follows what the airline declared had been its biggest ever summer flying programme in Scotland, which saw it carry a record seven million passengers to and from the country during its 2023 financial year.
Six new routes have been added by the company to Scotland in 2023, with connections between Edinburgh and Rovaniemi, Lapland, due to take off in December, and flights to Rome, Larnaca, and Enfidha from Glasgow beginning from next summer.
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EasyJet, which this morning reported pre-tax profits of £455 million for the year ended September 30, said the new aircraft in Glasgow will offer customers in Scotland more choice and greater connectivity across the UK, as well as creating around 40 jobs for the local area. The airline currently employs around 685 crew in Scotland, with the arrival of the new aircraft expected to take its employee base in Glasgow to nearly 300, including pilots, cabin crew, and base management.
Ali Gayward, easyJet UK country manager, said: “We are proud to be Scotland’s largest airline and are delighted to have carried a record 7 million customers in our last financial year, offering a fantastic network of 84 routes across four Scottish airports - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Inverness.
“We continue to see opportunity in Scotland which is why we are pleased to be basing an additional aircraft in Glasgow from next summer to offer our customers even more choice, like our new routes to Enfidha and Larnaca, providing more connectivity to popular destinations across the UK, Europe and beyond, all with great value fares and a warm welcome onboard.”
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Matt Hazelwood, chief commercial officer at AGS Airports, said: “easyJet’s decision to introduce a sixth based aircraft is a huge endorsement of our continued recovery and testament to a fantastic relationship between the airline and Glasgow Airport that stretches back more than 27 years to the airline’s inaugural flight.
“This is a significant investment given that the introduction of a yet another based aircraft brings with it and will support approximately 40 new jobs at Glasgow Airport.
“It has been a bumper year for both airport and airline not only celebrating the 40-million passenger landmark earlier this year, but we also welcome a number of new routes which are proving popular with our passengers.”
EasyJet’s expansion in Glasgow comes amid its broader growth in Scotland this year, including in Edinburgh where it welcomed its ninth aircraft in the summer. It now has 15 aircraft based in Scotland operating 84 routes, connecting the country to major European cities like Paris and Amsterdam, leisure hotspots such as Alicante, Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt. It also operates ski routes to destinations such as Lyon, Basel, and Geneva.
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