easyJet announces Birmingham expansion, supporting 800 jobs

easyJet has announced it will add two additional aircraft to its Birmingham base from next summer, providing greater connectivity for customers in the Midlands and supporting around 800 jobs.

The airline says the two extra Airbus A320 aircraft will support 800 direct and indirect jobs from next summer, as well as providing greater connectivity for customers in the Midlands

easyJet operated its largest ever flying programme at Birmingham Airport in its 2024 financial year and flew over 1.6 million customers to and from Birmingham, up 53 per cent compared to last year.

Its more than doubled the number of destinations on its network since opening a base at the airport in March 2024.

The 23 new routes include services to Marrakech, Reykjavik, Hurghada, Prague, Krakow, Rovaniemi and Innsbruck, which took off for the first time this winter.

Now, the arrival of two additional Airbus A320 aircraft will enable the airline to offer customers more choice for flights and holidays across Europe, such as new routes to popular holiday island destinations like Gran Canaria and Malta, which are now on sale.

The new twice-weekly routes will take off from 2 May 2025 to Gran Canaria and from 3 June 2025 to Malta.

Ali Gayward, easyJet UK country manager, said: “Our continued success in Birmingham is a clear testament to the continued popularity of our flights and holidays, with customers choosing us for our trusted brand, unrivalled network and great value fares.

“The growth of our fleet with two additional aircraft will not only support around 800 jobs but is enabling us to further unlock the opportunity of the continuing demand that we see for both leisure and business travel in the Midlands.

“We’re already capturing this opportunity with the launch of new routes next summer, which will provide more customers with greater choice and connectivity, and we look forward to welcoming them on board.”

easyJet estimates the expansion will be worth £27 million in gross value added to the region's economy.

The airline opened its Birmingham hub in March 2024, with the expansion taking the total number of aircraft based in the city to five Airbus A320.

Tom Screen, aviation director of Birmingham Airport said: “easyJet started its base from Birmingham Airport in March this year and since then its expansion of routes has been phenomenal.

“Offering city breaks, domestic short hops, sunshine holidays and even flights to see Santa in Lapland the airline caters for our customer’s holiday and business travel needs.

“The announcement of these two additional aircraft from Summer 2025 ensures that even more routes and frequencies will be added direct from Birmingham Airport offering customers convenient and competitive flights and holidays.”