Britons hoping to book a holiday now have 16 new destination options, courtesy of easyJet and Birmingham Airport.
The British airline inaugurated its newest UK base at Birmingham Airport today, March 18. This new launch means 16 new routes to destinations including Majorca, Paris and Amsterdam, among others.
Birmingham Airport said: "The opening of the base ushers in a new era for expansion for the airline in the UK – the fastest growing airline in the UK this summer - as well as easyJet holidays which is the fastest growing holidays company in the UK.
"83 per cent of people in England and Wales live within a two-hour drive of Birmingham Airport and the significant majority (89 per cent) of Birmingham Airport traffic is leisure. The new base will therefore enable easyJet to unlock the opportunity to capture the strong demand for leisure travel and the package holiday market.
Paris will be another popular tourist destination from easyJet's Birmingham base
GETTY IMAGES"easyJet is the largest leisure airline in the UK and the base opening has already more than tripled the airline’s share of the leisure market at Birmingham this summer compared to last year.
"With direct connections between Birmingham and primary European city airports including Amsterdam, Geneva, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Berlin Brandenburg, the new base will also serve millions of business travellers the airline carries to and from the UK each year.
"easyJet’s passenger numbers at Birmingham are expected to be up nearly 60 per cent this year versus last year and this summer season is also expected to be the biggest ever for easyJet holidays.
"Flights to and from Birmingham are set to carry one of the highest proportions of easyJet holidays’ customers on the network, with destinations like Majorca, Dalaman, Antalya, Sharm el Sheikh and Tunisia looking most popular for this summer."
CEO of easyJet Johan Lundgren commented on the exciting new partnership. She said: "We are excited to open our newest base at Birmingham today, providing more choice, competition and connectivity as well as supporting over 1,200 jobs for the region.
"This base is enabling us to unlock the opportunity of the strong demand that exists for both leisure and business travel, as well as further grow our share of the package holiday market.
"We see much untapped potential at the airport providing the opportunity to grow further in future years.
CEO of Birmingham Airport (BHX) Nick Barton added: "Today sees our growing partnership with easyJet reach new heights as the airline bases three aircraft here at Birmingham Airport. Customers can now take advantage of the airline’s 16 new routes and have the flexibility of flight only or a full package holiday.
"easyJet has been a partner airline for 17 years. Its expansion here at Birmingham Airport is a testament to the service, quality, price, reliability, and choice of destination that its customers have come to expect.
"We are looking forward to working with easyJet to further grow its destination list for our customers."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
easyJet is 'excited' to launch a new base 'providing more choice, competition and connectivity'
PA IMAGES
Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street expects that the launch of the new base will be a great success, warmly welcomed by holidaymakers from Birmingham and surrounding areas.
He said: "easyJet’s decision to set up this new base at BHX will be warmly welcomed by thousands of holidaymakers across the West Midlands and beyond.
"The increase in destinations is not only great news for those heading off to the sun this summer but also for our business community, helping them forge new overseas trade links.
"easyJet’s decision is also a vote of confidence in Birmingham Airport and the people working in our aviation industry. The new base will support hundreds of jobs and help the airport to grow and thrive in the years ahead."
