easyJet has opened its 10th UK base at London Southend Airport, creating 140 direct jobs for pilots and crew in the UK and supporting 1200 indirect jobs*.

This marks a continued trajectory of UK growth for the airline as it opens a second base in as many years, having launched at Birmingham International Airport in 2024, fuelled by UK demand for its flights and package holidays.

The airline is operating its biggest ever summer and biggest ever UK flying programme this year, with seven additional Airbus A320 family aircraft joining its UK-based fleet. This means there will be more than 33 million seats operating to and from the UK this summer, half a million more than last year and 44 new routes including 3 new destinations will take off from the UK this summer.

easyJet is the largest leisure airline in the UK, responsible for a third of all UK leisure travel growth this summer, with the opening of its London Southend base alone driving 8% of this.

The base opening will also continue to drive easyJet holidays’ rapid growth, which in 2025 will see its biggest ever summer season with Palma, Dalaman and Gran Canaria the most popular summer destinations for package holidays.

The base opening has been enabled by the growth of easyJet’s UK fleet to more modern and fuel-efficient aircraft, its unrivalled short-haul leisure network and easyJet holiday’s unique package holiday proposition.

Three A320neo aircraft are now based at London Southend airport, which will also see inaugural flights to Tenerife, Marrakech, Antalya, Reus, Almeria, Pisa, Dalaman, Enfidha, Gran Canaria and Malta. Nearly 10,000 passengers will take off on flights and holidays during the first week of these based operations, which is also the start of the aviation summer season.

With a catchment area the same size as Switzerland and around eight million people living within an hour of the airport, the opening of a base at London Southend provides easyJet with further growth opportunities in the UK leisure travel and package holiday market.

easyJet already served routes from London Southend to seven popular beach and city destinations including Alicante, Malaga, Palma, Faro, Amsterdam, Geneva and Paris. Now, by basing three aircraft, 140 pilots and crew as well as engineers at the airport, easyJet has been able to expand its network having launched 13 new routes over the past 12 months meaning a total of 20 routes are now available from London Southend.

The airline has already begun expanding its winter offering, with new services to Barcelona, Lanzarote and Salzburg and, in response to popular demand, has extended nine summer routes to also operate over the winter season.

easyJet was founded in the UK launching operations from London Luton airport nearly 30 years ago and since then it has flown over 800 million customers to and from the UK. easyJet serves 21 UK airports offering 536 routes from the UK to 137 destinations in 29 countries across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East and employs over 14,000 people across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

easyJet and easyJet holidays London Southend Network

*Each UK-based aircraft directly supports 400 jobs and £27m UK GVA considering direct, indirect and induced impacts according to an independent assessment commissioned by Airlines UK.