EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton) plans to launch the first ever scheduled flights between Manchester and Moscow starting in the Spring of 2013. EasyJet will operate four flights each week.

In other news, the company reported a full-year pretax profit of $504.4 million, an increase of 28 percent.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Nik French. Airbus A320-214 G-EZTB (msn 3843) taxies to the gate at Manchester.

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (UK) (London-Luton) is shifting away from its open seating policy copied from pioner LCC Southwest Airlines (Dallas). Instead the low-fare airline will change to allocated seating starting tomorrow. The company has issued the following statement:

EasyJet will introduce allocated seating on all of its flights – typically over 1000 a day – from November 27, 2012.  The airline trialled allocated seating in April 2012 with nearly 2 million passengers flying on 12,500 allocated seating flights.  In response to the trial’s success, the airline took the decision to roll out allocated seating across the whole network.

EasyJet trialled allocated seating because passenger research showed that the boarding process could be a source of stress for some customers and in some case,  a barrier to them flying with EasyJet.  The key tests of the trial were to improve passenger satisfaction without impacting EasyJet’s ability to deliver industry leading punctuality  –  all of which were achieved on trial flights.

Research among passengers who have travelled on an EasyJet allocated seating flight has shown that 71% think allocated seating is better due to the improved boarding experience, while over 60% said that they are more likely to fly with EasyJet in the future as a result.

Some interesting facts also emerged from the trial flights:

• On shorter journeys seat 6A was the best seller while on longer flights it was 1A
• On shorter journeys seat 16B was the least popular while it was 19B on longer flights
• Passengers preferred seats on the left hand side of the plane with seats A, B and C out selling D, E and F

All passengers will be allocated a seat for free on EasyJet’s flights but will have the choice of selecting a specific seat for a fee when they book flights, or adding them later to guarantee where they’ll be sitting. There are three bands of pricing, dependent on the seat selected:

• £12 for extra leg room
• £8 for up front seats (emergency exits, row 2-5 on A319 or 2-6 on A320)
• £3 for any other seat

EasyJet trialled allocated seating during the summer season, the  busiest time of year, to stress test the new systems and procedures. The airline decided to roll out the system in the winter season when fewer people travel to ensure a smooth transition. The trial flights showed that allocated seating can be delivered at the same time as maintaining strong levels of on time performance and without adding cost.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDL (msn 3569) taxies to the runway at a snowy Geneva.

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton) has announced today that it will be further expanding its routes from London Southend Airport with a new domestic service to Newquay (Cornwall) starting on June 20, 2013.

The new three times weekly service which depart on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Copyright Photo: Terry Wade. Airbus A319-111 G-EZIO (msn 2512) in the special “Supporting UNICEF” color scheme arrives at London (Gatwick).

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet’s (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has sold a portion of his shares in the airline and reduced his family’s holding to just 37 percent of the total shares. The sale was a protest against the direction of the low-fare airline and he  threatened a further cutback in his stake should the company acquire new airplanes in five years according to this article by Bloomberg.

Haji-Ioannou family members sold 600,000 shares last week.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth. Set against stormy skies, EasyJet’s Airbus A319-111 G-EZFA (msn 3788) arrives at EuroAirport (Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg) with special “La France au coeur” markings.

EasyJet: 

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) will introduce the first direct flight between Edinburgh and Southend (near London) starting on May 2.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDO (msn 3634) taxies at Geneva.

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton), the UK’s largest airline, will mark the inaugural flights of its three latest routes from London Stansted Airport to Marrakech, Sofia and Sharm El Sheikh this weekend. The three new routes which take off for the first time on February 15, 16 and 17 respectively will see almost 3,000 passengers travelling to these new easyJet destinations during this half-term period alone and an additional 100,000 affordable seats available from London Stansted per year.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton. Airbus A319-111 G-EZDU 9msn 3735) taxies to the runway at Geneva.

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has announced the launch of its first ever services from London Gatwick to Bergen – also known as the “Gateway to the Fjords” in Norway. The new route will commence on May 20, 2013.

Norway will be the 33rd country easyJet flies to with the airline expecting to carry more than 100,000 passengers between Norway and the UK annually.

easyJet’s timetable of flights between London Gatwick and Bergen is as follows:

From London Gatwick

From Bergen

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton. Airbus A319-111 G-EJAR (msn 2412) in the Supporting UNICEF special livery taxies to the runway at Geneva.

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has announced today it will start this week in its search to fill 200 new, additional pilot positions in 2014. For successful applicants the new roles will provide the first step towards a long term career with EasyJet and will also enable the airline to continue its profitable expansion which recently included launching new routes to Russia and Norway.

EasyJet expects to fill the new positions from several sources including – pilots starting their career, pilots currently flying for the military who wish to join the civilian aviation sector and those who currently fly for other airlines who wish to build a career at EasyJet.

The new positions will be offered across all 11 of EasyJet’s UK bases – Gatwick, Southend, Luton, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Belfast – and across easyJet’s European network of bases.

Those interested can apply through careers.easyJet.com and if successful will start flying with EasyJet from summer 2014.

Copyright Photo: Paul Denton. Airbus A320-214 G-EZTT (msn 4219) taxies at Geneva.

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (UK) (London-Luton) on May 2 launched its first flight to London Southend from Edinburgh. The new route means EasyJet now operates to four London airports with up to 28 flights connecting the capital cities per day.

EasyJet flights to London Southend will operate six days a week and offer the quickest route into Stratford and East London. Around 85,000 passengers are anticipated to use the service over the next 12 months and fares start from £29.99 each way.

In March EasyJet added a seventh aircraft to the airport and launched six new routes in a move which is expected to deliver 140,000 extra visitors to Scotland.

Copyright Photo: Robbie Shaw. Airbus A319-111 G-EJAR (msn 2412) in the Supporting UNICEF scheme taxies at London (Gatwick).

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet’s expanding route map at Southend (SEN):

EasyJet (UK) (stylized as easyJet) (London-Luton) and its partners Airbus and Nicarnica are planning the final stage of testing for the AVOID technology. Last week EasyJet flew back a ton of volcanic ash from Iceland collected by the Institute of Earth Sciences in Reykjavik. The ash, dried to create the consistency of fine talc, will be used in a unique experiment which is planned for this summer.

The next phase of testing will involve two Airbus test planes, one of which has the ability to disperse the ash into the atmosphere, thereby creating an artificial ash cloud for a second Airbus test aircraft with the AVOID technology fitted to detect and avoid at over 30,000 feet.

The experiment, which is expected to be conducted in August, will take place when the Seviri and Calypso satellites are aligned to be able to image the ash cloud from space thereby helping to prove the accuracy and effectiveness of the AVOID technology.

Ian Davies, easyJet’s Engineering Director, commented: “The threat from Icelandic volcanoes continues and so finalizing the approval of the AVOID technology is as crucial now as ever to ensure we never again see the scenes of spring 2010 when all flying ceased for several days.

“Transporting a ton of volcanic ash from Iceland is an important step in the final journey of testing the technology and moving towards commercial certification.”

Dr Fred Prata, inventor of the AVOID technology, said: “This is the perfect science experiment.  We will know exactly how much ash we have placed in the atmosphere, and also its concentration and composition.  AVOID will then measure it and demonstrate the technology.”

Manfred Birnfeld, Senior flight Test Engineer for Airbus,  said: ”We are all working towards reducing the impact of volcanic ash clouds, and the technology being developed in AVOID could prove valuable in identifying airspace free of ash contamination and provide data for pilots and airlines on the precise localisation of ash clouds.

“This is why Airbus is supporting the development of AVOID and we hope this system will contribute towards three dimensional, dynamic mapping tools to allow the airlines to take necessary decisions for a safe flight under the full knowledge of current location of ash clouds.”

The AVOID system can be likened to a weather radar for ash. Created by Dr Fred Prata, Chief Technology Officer at Nicarnica Aviation, the system comprises of infrared technology (developed by the U.S. military) fitted to aircraft to supply images to pilots and an airline’s operations control center. The images will enable pilots to see an ash cloud, up to 100 kilometers ahead of the aircraft and at altitudes between 5,000 feet and 50,000 feet, thus allowing them to make small adjustments to the plane’s flight path to avoid any ash cloud. The concept is very similar to weather radars which are standard on commercial airliners today.

On the ground, information from aircraft with AVOID technology would be used to build an accurate image of the volcanic ash cloud using real time data. This could open up large areas of airspace that would otherwise be closed during a volcanic eruption, which would benefit passengers by minimising disruption.

Copyright Photo: Paul Bannwarth. Airbus A319-111 G-EZIK (msn 2482) touches down at EuroAirport serving Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg.

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has reported its first half financial results:

A. HIGHLIGHTS

Revenue initiatives and the focus on maintaining EasyJet’s cost advantage, combined with competitor capacity reductions and the timing of Easter have enabled easyJet to reduce its first half pre-tax loss year on year by £51 million to £61 million.

EasyJet ended the first half of the financial year with £1,194 million of cash, a decrease of £17 million against last year. Net cash as at 31 March 2013 was £433 million compared to £42 million at 31 March 2012.

On 1 May 2013, John Barton succeeded Sir Mike Rake as easyJet Chairman. The whole team at easyJet wishes to note its thanks for Sir Mike Rake’s strong leadership of the Board for three years during which easyJet’s total shareholder return was 233%.

Progress against strategic objectives:

Drive demand, conversion and yields across Europe

• Total revenue per seat increased by 8.6% year on year on a constant currency basis, and by 5.8% per seat on a reported basis, to £53.39 as the half year benefited from an early Easter, competitor capacity retrenchment, returns focused changes to EasyJet’s network and improvements to its revenue management system.
• Average load factors increased by 1.7 percentage points to 88.6% whilst capacity grew by 3.3% to 30 million seats.

Maintain cost advantage

• Cost per seat excluding fuel grew by 3.4% on a constant currency basis and by 3.1% on a reported basis to £38.89. Year on year cost increases were largely driven by increased charges at regulated airports and from higher weather related disruption and de-icing costs.
• EasyJet lean delivered an incremental £25 million of savings in the period.

Build strong number 1 and 2 network positions

• Successful deployment of capacity from Madrid base which was exited in December 2012 to strengthen easyJet’s position in Edinburgh, Manchester, Gatwick, Geneva, Lisbon and Lyon.

Disciplined use of capital

• In the six months to 31 March 2013, EasyJet has returned £85 million or 21.5 pence per share to shareholders through the increased payment of ordinary dividend, at three times earnings cover.
• Further to the January 2013 IMS, easyJet has signed sale and operating leaseback agreements for 12 new A320 and 12 of the oldest A319 aircraft.
• Significant improvements have been made in underperforming routes increasing overall network returns.
• easyJet is in the final stages of the commercial evaluation of the next generation of short-haul engine technology. The process has been subject to high standards of governance. In the event that the Board of easyJet concludes that an order will be in the interest of all shareholders, easyJet will bring a proposal to shareholders that will cover both the next generation of deliveries, which are likely to be after 2017, and a plan for the bridging period from 2015 to 2017.

Commenting on the results, Carolyn McCall, easyJet Chief Executive said:

“EasyJet delivered a strong first half performance, demonstrating the Company’s structural advantage in the European short-haul market against both legacy and low cost competition, and a continuing resilience against a challenging European macro-economic environment.

Our performance reflects measurable progress against EasyJet’s four key strategic objectives that have been amply demonstrated by a significant reduction in the loss for the first half and significant improvement in ROCE over the same period.

Whilst there is always the potential for unexpected events to impact short term financial performance, the outlook for the second half of the financial year combined with the strong reduction in first half losses means that EasyJet expects to deliver improved returns and profitability for the year ending 30 September 2013.”

In other news, the company is nearing a decision to order the re-engined Airbus A320neo or the Boeing 737 MAX.

Read the full story and analysis by Reuters: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Christian Volpati/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZBR (msn 3088) with the special Airbus 100 markings stops at Paris (CDG).

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) yesterday (May 20) launched  its first ever services from London Gatwick to Bergen, Norway.

Norway is the 33rd country EasyJet flies to with the airline expecting to carry more than 100,000 passengers between Norway and the UK annually.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EJAR (msn 2412) in the Supporting UNICEF motif taxies at Amsterdam.

Video: The expanding easyJet:

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has announced and confirmed it plans to acquire 25 pairs of arrival and departure slots London’s Gatwick Airport from Flybe (Exeter) for £20 million ($25.7 million). The company issued this statement:

EasyJet plc can confirm it has completed an agreement with Flybe Group plc to acquire 25 pairs of arrival and departure slots at Gatwick airport for a total consideration of £20 million. The acquisition is subject to the approval of Flybe’s shareholders.

The slots will transfer from summer 2014 and will allow easyJet to provide additional frequencies on popular existing routes from Gatwick as well as add new destinations across the UK and Europe.

In return, Flybe issued this statement:

Flybe confirmed to the London Stock Exchange today at 0700 that it has sold its arrival and departure slots at London Gatwick airport, thus bringing to an end Flybe’s 22 year record of providing high-frequency air services from the UK regions to the airport. Flybe will continue to fly all its routes until the end of March 2014. The slots have been sold to EasyJet for a cash sum of £20 million.

The decision is as a result of the pricing regime applied by the airport’s owners to the operators of smaller, regional aircraft which, in Flybe’s case, has resulted in a 102% rise over the last five years. In a well-publicised, lengthy and expensive complaint, the airline used the Airports Act 1986 to argue to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in 2010 that Gatwick was acting in an anti-competitive and discriminatory manner. Despite support from other airlines, communities and governments around the British Isles, the fact that Flybe operates more UK domestic flights than any other airline and has won the airport’s Gold Award for punctuality in every quarter since its introduction in 2009, the CAA ruled in September 2012 that Gatwick was within its rights to raise their landing fees for smaller aircraft, thus paving the way for today’s regrettable announcement.

Flybe will continue to operate as normal all its seven domestic Gatwick routes – from Belfast City, Guernsey, Inverness, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Newcastle and Newquay – until Saturday March 29, 2014, with no changes to pricing, frequency or timings. It also confirmed that there will be no impact upon any other route currently operated from those seven airports and that the funds generated by the sale of the slots will be re-invested in the remaining 159 Flybe routes.

Separate to this announcement, Flybe today updated the London Stock Exchange on the significant positive progress it has made in its plan to return Flybe UK, its UK based scheduled airline, to profitability. Highlights included surpassing its target savings of £25m, with £30m of annual cost savings being delivered for year 2013/14 onwards, and the deal agreed in principle with BALPA (British Airlines Pilots Association) for a 5% reduction in salary in return for extra time off.

Top Copyright Photo: Antony J. Best. EasyJet’s Airbus A320-214 G-EZTD (msn 3909) holds short of the runway ready for departure from London (Gatwick).

EasyJet (UK): 

Flybe: 

Bottom Copyright Photo: Keith Burton. Flybe’s Bombardier DHC-8-402 (Q400) G-JEDW (msn 4093) arrives at Gatwick Airport.

Flybe LGW Route Map: Flybe flies to mainly UK domestic destinations from LGW:

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (London-Luton), according to this report by Reuters, is in advanced discussions with Airbus to acquire around 100 re-engined A320neo family aircraft. Boeing had hoped to get back into the game with EasyJet. Such a large order would require stockholder approval.

If finalized, the order is likely to be announced at the upcoming Paris Airshow.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZIY (msn 2636) taxies to the runway at Amsterdam.

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has reached a new agreement with the new owners of London Stansted Airport (STN) (north of central London). New owner MAG previously acquired STN from Heathrow Airport Holdings for $2.35 billion.

EasyJet, as part of the deal, has promised to raise its Stansted passenger numbers to 6 million passengers per year from the current 2.8 million passengers according to Reuters.

It is unclear if this is a straight built up of traffic with new routes or whether some traffic at other London airports will be moving to STN. The low-fare carrier has recently been adding new routes notably from at Gatwick and Southend. Nearby Luton is the base for the carrier.

Traffic at STN had been declining. This new accord will stem those losses. Rival Ryanair has a major hub at STN.

The airline recently announced it had reached the milestone of more than 60 million passengers who have travelled with the airline in the past 12 months to May 31, 2013.

When easyJet was founded in November 1995 the airline first took to the skies with just two aircraft flying between two domestic UK destinations. Eighteen years later, the airline now operates 212 aircraft flying to 137 airports in 33 countries spanning Europe and North Africa.

More than one hundred of easyJet’s 800 Luton based staff gathered outside the airline’s Hangar 89 head office at London Luton Airport to mark the 60 million milestone and celebrate the airline’s continued success and popularity.

Top Copyright Photo: Terry Wade/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A319-111 G-EZIW (msn 2578) in the Linate-Fiumicino Per Tutti special scheme arrives at London (Gatwick).

EasyJet (UK): 

The current routes from STN:

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton), subject to shareholder approval, intends to place a firm order with Airbus for 100 A320neo aircraft. These will be preceded by 35 A320ceo aircraft equipped with Sharklets.  Of the 135 aircraft, 85 will be for replacement.

Copyright Photo: Andi Hiltl/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 G-EZUI (msn 4721) in the special 200th Airbus livery departs from Zurich.

EasyJet: 

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) on June 20 celebrated two milestones at London Southend Airport.

To further enhance the airline’s expansion and network of destinations from London Southend, EasyJet has added a fourth aircraft to its fleet based at the airport. The additional plane will enable the launch of three new EasyJet destinations to Berlin, Krakow and Newquay with 130,000 passengers expected to fly on these new services annually increasing passenger traffic at London Southend Airport by almost 20%. The announcement comes just over one month after EasyJet’s inaugural flights to Edinburgh took off from the airport in May.

EasyJet marked the addition of the fourth aircraft and its inaugural Newquay flight with a fun send-off by the London Southend Airport Fire Service which gave the plane a 40 foot high water arch salute before it took-off (see below).

Southend along with London City Airport serves the east side of the metropolitan London area (Microsoft).

The addition of these new services brings the total number of EasyJet destinations from Southend to 15:

Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Edinburgh, Faro, Geneva, Ibiza, Geneva, Krakow, Majorca, Malaga, Newquay and Venice.

Copyright Photos: Top: London Southend Airport. All others by EasyJet.

EasyJet (UK): 

Routes from Southend (SEN):

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) must get stockholder approval for its recent tentative deal with Airbus for 100 A320neo and 35 A320ceo aircraft. However, according to this report by Reuters, founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou stated today he would vote against the deal. The founder still controls around 37 percent of the shares. Stelios has been critical of the current management and their “over expansion”. The airline has not commented on Stelios’ comments.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo: Javier Rodriguez/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 G-EZUG (msn 4680) promoting the new destination of Moscow, arrives at Palma de Mallorca.

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (UK) (easyJet.com) (London-Luton) has today added a further five routes to its flight schedule making 190,000 more seats available for its passengers.

The new routes will take off from October 17, 2013.

The schedule additions include a new route to the Romanian capital of Bucharest, Larnaca in Cyprus, Venice, Lyon and Tenerife. The routes will fly from across easyJet’s UK bases including London Gatwick, London Luton, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. This former GB Airways Airbus A320-232 registered as G-TTOH (msn 1993) and pictured at Palma de Mallorca was incorporated into the easyJet fleet for only a short period before it was returned and later migrated to AviaNova (EI-ELN) and Yamal Airlines (VP-BCN).

EasyJet (UK): 

EasyJet (easyJet.com) (UK) (London-Luton) has firmed up the purchase of 135 Airbus A320 family aircraft (100 A320neos and 35 A320ceos). The initial agreement was announced earlier in June.

Founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou was critical of the order and did not want to approve the order as a stockholder. However enough stockholders gave their approval for the order to proceed.

Haji-Ioannou started easyJet in 1995 when he was 28. In 2000, EasyJet PLC was partially floated on the London Stock Exchange. Stelios’ family remains its largest single shareholder.

Top Copyright Photo: Paul Denton/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 G-EZTY (msn 4554) approaches Geneva for landing (click on the photo for the full size view).

EasyJet (UK): 

Bottom Image: Airbus. An artist rendition of the A320neo.