UK low-fare carrier easyJet has selected Palma de Mallorca Airport in the Spanish Balearic Islands as the location for its first seasonal base. The airline will station three Airbus A320 Family aircraft at the facility for eight months of the year starting in spring 2017.
easyJet has flown more than 17 million passengers to and from Palma since its operations began in 1997 and currently carries over 1.7 million passengers a year from 22 bases across its European network.
The island remains one of the most popular summer destinations from the UK and Northern Europe and so basing aircraft there better matches customer demand, which is higher from early spring to late summer. The move is likely to open new network opportunities in the future and will help easyJet connect the island with more airports across Europe not currently served by the airline.
“This is another example of developing new initiatives to make our business model even more efficient,” said Carolyn McCall, chief executive officer, easyJet. “The base provides a solution that matches the seasonal needs of the market. Palma is one of our most popular destinations and so with the new base we will be able to better respond to customer demand.”
easyJet builds on solid foundations in Spain where the airline has operated for many years. easyJet has recently opened a new base at El Prat International Airport, Barcelona, with three Airbus A320 and plans to carry over 13.6 million passengers to and from Spain this year, a four percent increase from 2015. 14 new routes have been announced for this summer, two of which are to Palma (from Amsterdam and Nice).
Schedule data from OAG shows the seasonality of easyJet’s operations from Palma. Although there have been minor annual adjustments in capacity over the past five years its schedule offering follows the same annual profile. Monthly capacity can vary almost ten-fold from the quieter winter months to the busiest summer months. This year the airline offered just over 1,100 seats a day on average in January, but will grow to an average of over 10,000 a day in August, based on published schedules.
Related Content
