4th September 2009

Easyjet to close its East Midlands base

Easyjet the world renowned budget airline has announced it is to close its East Midlands base and limit services at Luton airport by 20%. The low-fare flight provider also announced it would be consulting on a reduction of the number of flight crew at Belfast, Bristol, Newcastle and Stansted airports. You can book East Midlands airport parking and East Midlands hotel parking online at Flypark

EasyJet blamed the cutbacks at Luton on "the airport's failure to recognise the commercial realities of the recession", while saying that their East Midlands airport operation had remained stagnant for many years.

EasyJet said flights to and from East Midlands airport up to the end of the year would not be affected. Passengers travelling to and from East Midlands beyond the end of this year would be informed if and how their travel might be affected.  The airline employs 120 staff and operates three aircraft at East Midlands, and carries around 700,000 passengers a year. The consultation on crew numbers at Belfast, Bristol, Newcastle and Stansted will affect about 40 pilot and cabin crew jobs.

EasyJet has 530 pilots and cabin crew at Luton where it operates 16 aircraft and carries 4.7 million passengers a year. EasyJet also stated it had opened a formal 90-day consultation with its crews at Luton and East Midlands, adding that it was the airline's intention to redeploy as many staff as possible. The carrier added that following the Luton and East Midlands reorganisation it would move flights to more lucrative airports with most of the aircraft being used at its continental bases.

The airline also said that its overall growth plans remained unchanged at around 7.5% per year. It said airport costs at Luton had risen by 25% over the past three years which made the Bedfordshire base no longer competitive.