Alex Trelinski
BUDGET airline EasyJet officially opened its new base at Alicante-Elche airport on Wednesday with the promise of 10 new routes.
One of those services- to and from Glasgow- actually started on Sunday on a plane that will be based at the Costa Blanca airport.
A ceremony took place at the terminal on Wednesday attended by EasyJet’s southern Europe general manager, Javier Gandara, and politicians led by Valencian president, Carlos Mazon.
The company claims that 100 jobs will be created with 22 routes operating and 1.5 million seats available for the high season- a 10% increase.
The base will be seasonal, i.e. operating between April and October.
“Until now Alicante was one of our most popular destinations that did not have a base,” said Javier Gandara.
He said the new commitment will allow the airline to ‘continue expanding and consolidating our operations in Spain’.
The seasonal nature of the base will provide EasyJet with flexibility to adapt to market needs and Gandara stressed that that they will be able to ‘reinforce existing traffic flows and explore markets that would have been inaccessible before.’
New routes will link Glasgow, Southampton and Belfast, as well as the return of its Newcastle service plus Zurich, Prague, Lyon, Lille, Nantes and Nice.
The expanded flight schedule means there will be three aircraft at the new Alicante base.
