The launch of a new operational base at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands 19 years after it first launched flights to the European gateway will enable easyJet to enhance its business offering from the city through more early morning departures. The carrier will station three Airbus A320s at the airport from spring 2015.
Amsterdam is already one of easyJet’s most successful network points with more than 3.5 million passengers flying annually to and from 21 destinations. This announcement marks easyJet’s first ever base in the Netherlands and further strengthens the airline’s long term strategic position at Amsterdam Schiphol, where it now holds a nine per cent market share having first introduced flights back in 1996.
easyJet says the three based A320s will enable it to “offer more early morning departures which are popular with business passengers, expand the number of cities easyJet connects to Amsterdam while also building a stronger outbound schedule for Dutch leisure travellers”.
With this extra capacity easyJet expects to fly an additional 600,000 passengers next year, an incremental 16 per cent year-on-year increase. It will add a six times weekly link to Hamburg from November 2014, with additional routes to be announced in the coming months.
“This base is the next step in our long term contribution to Dutch aviation that started in 1996. Today’s announcement marks the beginning of a new programme of growth at Schiphol. We have built a strong number two position here which we now need to consolidate and grow,” said Carolyn McCall, chief executive officer, easyJet.
"easyJet is ideally positioned to support the growth of Schiphol in areas where the main port needs it. We plan to carry many more passengers to and from the Netherlands thus supporting its vital tourism sector while making it even easier and better value for business travellers,” she added.
According to statistics from easyJet, around one million business travellers already fly with the carrier to and from Schiphol , around one third of its total number of passengers. The airline says its latest expansion plans at Schiphol will certainly grow this number. Furthermore, every passenger we fly in goes on to generate wealth for Amsterdam and its surrounding region, and contributes to the Netherlands’ economic success more generally,” concluded McCall.
In our analysis, below, we look at easyJet’s annual capacity at Amsterdam Schiphol over the past ten years. The data from OAG Schedules Analyser shows that the airline’s capacity at the Netherlands gateway declined by 1.2 per cent in 2013 but was its second highest level on record. The small decline followed three years of double-digit growth with capacity up 33.4 per cent in 2010, 21.8 per cent in 2011 and 10.1 per cent in 2012.
Data provided by 
Related Content
