21 November 2007
Europe’s leading low-fares airline, easyJet has announced plans to operate year-round services to London Luton and Liverpool, starting from spring 2008. The scheduled service to Liverpool will commence on Monday 31 March 2008 and operate a 737-700 aircraft whilst the Luton service will commence three weeks later on Monday 21 April 2008 and will be operated by an Airbus 319 aircraft.
The airline’s announcement has been warmly welcomed by Senator Philip Ozouf, Minister for Economic Development. He says, “This announcement is one of the most significant for a decade. The fact that easyJet has chosen to add Jersey to their extensive international route network is a mark of confidence in Jersey and a tremendous boost for Tourism, quite apart from being tremendous news to Islanders. These new services to London Luton and Liverpool will fit well into the broader network and services delivered by our existing airlines.”
The Island is a new market for easyJet and the airline predicts the routes will be attractive to both business and leisure travellers alike. The airline’s UK General Manager Commercial, David Osborne, said, “This is an exciting development for easyJet. Not only are we launching services to Jersey for the first time, we are also opening up the market with two new currently un-served routes, connecting it with London Luton and Liverpool, providing direct access to the Island, which we expect to be popular with both business and leisure passengers”.
The announcement comes as a direct result of the efforts of Jersey Airport’s and Economic Development’s dynamic management teams, working together to deliver new routes to the Island. Deputy Alan Maclean, Assistant Minister for Economic Development, says, “The addition of Liverpool and restoration of the Luton service has the capability of delivering in excess of 190,000 passengers within the first 12 months of operation, which will be of great benefit to the economy and compliments the continued investment in the vitally important tourism and business economy. This announcement is symbolic of the new approach at Jersey Airport to working in partnership with Economic Development.
On behalf of the Jersey Hospitality Association, President Robyn Lapidus, says, “It is great news for our membership and the Island in general. We will work with easyJet to make the routes a success as we have worked with all the other airlines which have served the Island so well over the years. We offer our congratulations to the teams at Jersey Airport and Economic Development in securing these new routes and believe it will be beneficial for the Island residents and tourism in general”.
Airline fares have yet to be confirmed. However, seats for the new Liverpool service will be on sale within the next seven days and seats for the Luton service will be available within the first week of December. Both services can be booked online at www.easyjet.com
gov.je