easyJet Brings A320 to Newcastle

UK low-cost carrier easyJet is to base a single Airbus A320 at Newcastle International Airport this summer providing an additional 13,000 seats to passengers on its flights from the North East England gateway. The budget operator confirmed this week that it would switch one of the 156-seat A319s that currently fly from the airport with a larger 174-seat A320.

“Due to increased customer demand we are replacing an Airbus A319 with an Airbus A320 to provide additional seats to our loyal flyers,” said Hugh Aitken, Commercial Manager, easyJet. “This move demonstrates that easyJet is committed to further growth at Newcastle Airport.”

The airline has reduced its network at the airport over the past few years and as the table below illustrates, it has seen its share of the traffic decrease from 44.8 per cent to 31.0 per cent in the past five years as fellow budget carrier Jet2.com has developed its own position at the facility. However, easyJet remains the largest carrier by traffic with its two domestic routes to Belfast and Bristol the busiest for O&D traffic in the airport’s network carrying in excess of 200,000 passengers per year. The airline also offers international service to Alicante, Barcelona, Faro, Geneva, Ibiza, Malaga, Malta, Menorca, Nice, Palma and Paris from Newcastle International.