easyJet enters package deals world

Low-cost carrier easyJet has launched a new website which it says will mark the "death of traditional, inflexible package holidays".

The new site - easyJetHolidays.com - allows passengers to match up easyJet flights with over 10,000 hotels across Europe.

Holidaymakers can use the service to tailor their package holiday with flights and accommodation, but still benefit from TTA-protected holidays.

Previously, people looking for package holidays had to use travel agents, who could not offer the cheap airfares of the low-cost carriers. Some agents were routinely adding £15 to the cost of cheap flights.

The new website allows holidaymakers to bypass the travel agent and create their own package to suit them - complete with flexible stays and no holiday reps.

"Package holidays offered through travel agents and tour operators have developed a deserved reputation for everything that is bad about travel," explained easyJet's chief executive, Andy Harrison.

"easyJetHolidays is redefining holidays by enabling travellers, for the first time, to combine flights on any of easyJet's 298 routes with over 10,000 hotels across Europe to create their own easily bookable holiday combinations in a single place."

Recent figures from the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) showed that less people from the UK were opting for traditional package holidays.